A New Future REDUX
by gaasakufoevah
Summary: "Sasuke and I have formed a plan. If we do die, we want you two to go to the past and make sure this war doesn't happen. Too many lives have already been lost and we can't let that continue. Can we trust you two to follow the plan?" "Hai!" They only had one chance to change the future. NaruSaku,SasuHina. Time Travel fic. New and improved version.
1. Going Back

**DISCLAIMER: Naruto and the rest of the characters are not mine. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. **

_**~A New Future~**_

"_Thoughts"  
_"_**Inner Sakura"  
**_Writing  
**Jutsu  
**_Flashback_

"**Sasuke and I have formed a plan. If we do die, we want you two to go back to the past and make sure this war doesn't happen. Too many lives have already been lost and we can't let that continue. Can we trust you two to follow the plan?"  
**"**Hai!"  
**_**They only had one chance to change the future.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Going Back**_

Birds were chirping away and singing their happy tunes, blissfully unaware of the destruction that was just a few feet away from their nests.

The battle ground was destroyed, no part of it left untouched from the chaos that had taken place. Bodies littered the clearing-none of them having an evident pulse. They were all presumed dead by the two pairs of eyes at the edge of the clearing, hidden by the shade of the trees. Their causes of death were numerous: burned to ashes, heart ripped out, body shredded to pieces, fatal stab wounds, head blown off, and many other causes to add to the list. Some bodies had a seal tag on them, irrevocably stating that they were once reanimated corpses.

It was a gruesome, but expected and now normal, sight. Most of the dead could be distinguished as being from the Sound, except for a few which had been the living corpses for the infamous jutsu of **Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation**.

The two figures who had stood unmoving in the shadows of the trees suddenly moved out into the light. Now basked in the sunlight, one would notice that both had on a light gray coat that covered their entire body up to the bottom of their chins. The one with pink hair noticeably shook and did a mad dash to the center of the field, her partner not far behind. As they reached their destination, they abruptly stopped. The midnight blue haired ninja fell onto her knees as the pink haired ninja closed her eyes at the scene ahead.

In front of them were two bodies with their ANBU masks on the sides of their faces. The masks were badly cracked with some parts having already fallen off. Their faces were covered with a few scratches, burns, some dried blood, and dirt.

The one closest to the new arrivals had blonde, spiky hair that was messy and quite dirty. His eyes were hidden behind his eyelids and he had three whisker marks on each cheek. His face was colored a sun-kissed tan, with dried blood speckled here and there. On the side of his face, his ANBU mask was badly cracked, but the design was still visible. It had a red spiral over the right eye hole. Some of the parts of his mask, that hadn't chipped away and fallen, were covered in dirt. The blond was wearing a red Jounin-like vest with black trimming that was zipped down. On the upper left of his vest were two metal plates with insignias-one of them was for the Leaf Village, the other was the symbol that stood for Shinobi. Underneath the vest was an orange shirt that reached his wrists, where black, fingerless gloves with a metal plate covered his hands. His shirt had a gaping hole on his right side, the obvious culprit of his death being that someone had punctured his right lung. On his chest, you could see a necklace with an emerald-colored crystal at the end of it. This necklace was passed down to him by the late Fifth Hokage. Continuing onto the rest of his body, the blond was wearing black ninja pants that reached to the middle of his calves. Black ninja sandals that went a bit above the ankle covered his feet. The skin that would have been showing was covered with white wrapping. Parts of his clothes were ripped, showing wounds that had bled but were now crusted over with dried blood. Blood was pooling near his knees, revealing that someone had severed the tendons at the back of his thigh-his hamstring. This injury most likely helped his attacker land the fatal attack to his right lung, where blood was already starting to pool in there.

The other body had dark blue, almost black, hair. His hair was spiked up in the back, with bangs stopping by his eyebrows and two longer layers of hair framing his face. Most of the right side of his hair was burnt. He was pale with a white mask resembling a hawk on the left side of his face. He had an identical vest to the man next to him, except that his was gray with black trimming and zipped up. Underneath the vest, he was wearing a black, form-fitting shirt with sleeves that reached his wrists. On his right shoulder, the symbol of the Uchiha clan was proudly emblazoned. The sleeves were torn in several locations, and a few senbon were embedded into his left arm. If the vest had been opened, a peculiar necklace around his neck-that was once possessed by the infamous missing-nin, Itachi Uchiha-would have been noticed. The ninja had gotten a hold of this necklace during the war. His ninja pants reached an inch below his knees and his ninja sandals-with shin protectors-continued on from there, no trace of skin noticeable between the change. Kunai, senbon, and shuriken were dominant on the left side of his body, excluding the chest area. Blood continued to pool out of the wounds, the apparent cause of death was blood loss.

As the two ninja from before stared at the bodies, the blackish blue haired one turned on her ocular power. As she continued to stare intently at the bodies, her eyes widened considerably. She turned to her pink haired partner and gave an overjoyed smile as tears welled in her eyes.

"They're still alive!"

The pink haired ninja joined her partner on the floor and they both began to heal the pair in front of them. They had a determined look on their faces, not deterred by the fact that it was a hopeless cause.

The bubblegum haired ninja's face was contorted into a face of utmost concentration. A few strands of her pink hair covered her vision, but she paid no mind to it. Her pink hair was covered in dirt, signifying the fact that she hadn't given it a proper cleaning for a while. It was tied up in a ponytail, the ends only grazing her shoulders. Her bangs were framing her face with the help of her red headband. Her eyes were an emerald color, focused entirely on the task in front of her. Sweat dripped off of her forehead and was slowly moving down her face. She rubbed it off and in the same motion took off her cloak and laid it behind her. She was wearing an identical vest as the two men before her, however, unlike theirs, hers was white with black trimming. She had a red cross in a black outlined circle on the right side of her chest. The vest was zipped up to her collarbone, allowing a glance at what lay underneath: a black, no-sleeved shirt that went up to the middle of her neck. On her hands, she had on black gloves that were damaged from being constantly in use during battles. She had on black ninja pants that reached about two inches below her knees. Her shoes were black high heels, with straps that reached up to her ankle. Most ninja would realize they were an exact replica of her shishou's.

Her partner had very dark, blue hair that could almost resemble a soft black. Her hair reached to the small of her back, with her bangs' tips barely passing her eyebrows. Her eyes were a cloudy white. She was trying to hold in her tears by harshly blinking them back. Slowly, a traitor tear moved down her pale face. As she wiped it off, she took off her cloak. She was wearing the same vest as the others, though hers was black with white trimming. Her vest's zipper was pulled all the way up, with light purple, loose sleeves the only thing escaping. Underneath the vest, viewers would have noticed a ring held onto by a thin chain, serving as a necklace. The dark blue haired woman was wearing black ninja pants that reached right below her knees. Her shoes were the standard black ninja sandals. She was working on the dark haired man in front of her, trying desperately to save him.

Slowly, the two men in question opened their eyes. The women widened their eyes and a look of pure happiness passed through them.

"Naruto!/Sasuke-kun!"

"S-Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?" asked the blond.

"Hinata?" the darker haired one added.

"We are here to save you both and take you back to the base. Now don't strain yourselves and let Sakura-chan and I heal you," Hinata told them.

"Hinata, you know it's pointless. We've lost too much blood and have too many wounds," Sasuke pointed out, stoic even as he was dying from the blood loss.

"Sasuke-kun, don't say that! We can save you! Sakura is the best medic in the world, and she taught me! We can save you, don't give up hope Sasuke-kun," Hinata demanded from Sasuke, more tears streaming down her face. She didn't, no couldn't, accept the reality in front of her.

"Sakura-chan, you know Bastard is right. Don't waste chakra on us," Naruto told Sakura, smiling widely. his happy-go-lucky personality shining through.

"Naruto, if we have still have chakra left in us, we will do whatever we can to save you two! Don't be an idiot and tell us to give up!" yelled Sakura, tears pouring out of her eyes.

"Don't cry Sakura-chan, you know that it hurts me when I see you in tears," Naruto told Sakura, slowly lifting up his hand and wiping away her tears. How many times had he had to wipe away her tears? It didn't necessarily matter, Naruto knew that he would continue to do it until he was dead.

"_Ironic since I'm dying right now," _Naruto thought, a mirthless chuckle reverberating in his mind.

"N-Naruto, you can't leave me. You promised that you would never leave me," Sakura sniffled, trying her hardest to not break down. In an effort to distract herself, she continued to heal the wound in Naruto's chest.

"I would never leave you, Sakura-chan. I will always be with you," Naruto, with all the remaining strength left in his body, moved his hand and poked the left side of Sakura's chest, "right here. Our love has overcome so many hard obstacles, this is just another one."

Naruto finished his small speech with one of his wide smiles, some blood trickling down his mouth. Sakura leaned down and laid a kiss on Naruto's lips, tears escaping out of her eyes. As she pulled back, Sakura could see Naruto smiling sadly at her.

"I love you, Sakura-chan."

Naruto's eyes lost the remaining life that was left in them after the words escaped his lips. Sakura stopped trying to heal him and instead opted for holding his body close to hers. No sounds were coming from her. Tears were cascading down her face freely and her body was racked by her silent whimpers.

"Naruto…You _damn idiot_, I love you too," Sakura whispered.

**With Hinata and Sasuke **

"Sasuke-kun, don't say that! We can save you! Sakura is the best medic in the world, and she taught me! We can save you, don't give up hope Sasuke-kun."

"Hinata, be logical, you know I can't survive from these wounds. I've lost too much blood. I love you. Don't forget that," Sasuke said as he looked into Hinata's eyes and conveyed all his feelings that had taken him so long to understand. Knowing he was going through the last moments of living, he freely expressed all his love for her in those moments of eye contact.

"I love you too, Sasuke-kun. Please don't leave me, not like this! You just can't, everything has been going so wonderful. We were suppose to get married when this war was over. You can't leave me, not yet…" Hinata trailed off. Sasuke slowly lifted his hand up to Hinata and pushed the hair that covered her face behind her ear. Hinata stared woefully at Sasuke's eyes. She leaned down and kissed him, not noticing that his last breath of air left him as she did. When she lifted her face back up, she stared down at her beloved's face. Sasuke had died with a small smile on his face, the last expression to ever cross his face. Hinata looked down, her hair shielded her face.

"I couldn't save him. I couldn't save the man I love," Hinata spoke silently. She lifted her head up and looked towards where Sakura was. Feeling eyes on her, Sakura looked up into the melancholy eyes of Hinata. They nodded at each other and laid the bodies of their loved ones next to each other, then they groggily stood up.

"There's nothing we could have done for them," Hinata breathed out.

"I know. Why d-did they have to be so reckless and do this by themselves? They could have asked for back-up, they could have asked for us! They didn't need to do this by themselves…For fucks sakes, we could have went with them! We could have prevented all this! Why didn't they ask for backup?!" Sakura's foot stomped onto the ground, creating cracks on it. She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her wrist, wiping away the tears that escaped her tear ducts.

"We had to help all the wounded that were pouring in, and everyone else was on important missions. Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun were only at the base because they had to protect it. There is a war going on, Sakura-chan, don't forget that. The base is in a fragile state since Lady Tsunade was killed just a few months ago. We already lost Konoha, we can't lose this base too! We can't lose this war," Hinata looked up into the sky and a forlorn smile graced her features, "We already lost, haven't we?"

Sakura let out the breath of air she didn't know she was holding.

"We can't win, there's just no way. Kabuto keeps summoning more dead ninja to fight for him…The Allied Shinobi Nation can't beat them all, we just can't."

Sakura clenched her fists in frustration, an insistent prickling in her eyes told her she was about to cry once again. She took in deep, steady breaths to calm her nerves and stop the tears from falling. She knew once she started, she wouldn't be able to stop. Noticing the state her fried was in, Hinata decided to change the topic into another.

"Sakura-chan, we have to put Naruto-kun's plan into action. It's probably the only chance that we have to change everything."

Sakura's eyes widened fractionally before she nodded. She couldn't let the war end with their side losing and she knew that the plan would drastically change everything.

_Flashback_

"_Naruto, did you need something?" Sakura asked her boyfriend._

"_Dead last, are you seriously going to tell them what we planned? Right now?" Sasuke questioned, trying to discourage Naruto from speaking._

"_Bastard, I have to tell them. You know why!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment. He slowly opened his eyes, defeat clearly evident in them. _

"_Tell them."_

"_Tell us what, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata asked her own fiancé._

"_You know that we are in a war with Madara and the Sound. There is a very high possibility that Sasuke and I will die in battle. No, more like we _will _die in battle," Naruto raised his hand up to silence the argument Sakura and Hinata were about to start. "We are way outnumbered. The only possible outcome for this war right now is with us losing. Sasuke and I have tried strategizing with Shikamaru, but we can't find a way out of this. This war will end with us losing, no doubt about that. Sasuke and I have formed a plan. If we do die, we want you two to go to the past and make sure this war doesn't happen. Too many lives have already been lost and we can't let that continue. Can we trust you two to follow the plan?"_

"_Hai!" Sakura and Hinata replied, full of confidence. They weren't about to fail, not with such an important task as this one. _

"_Good, here's the plan…"_

_Flashback End_

Sakura looked towards Hinata, determination radiating off of her. She reached into one of her vest pockets and took out a pink scroll. Hinata did the same, but she took out a purple scroll. They turned around to face the bodies behind them and did a few hand signs. Both sucked in a breath of air and blew out a stream of fire, saying the name of the Jutsu as they did.

"**Fire Release: Fire Stream.**"

Sakura and Hinata burned the bodies of Naruto and Sasuke, leaving no trace of their bodies behind. They couldn't risk Kabuto getting their DNA and using it to bring them back to life as reanimated corpses.

The two female ninjas turned to look at each other and nodded. They stepped back from each other so that there was a meter between them. They unrolled their scroll so that it crisscrossed with the other. Then, they stepped into the middle with their hands in the ram sign.

"To change the future?" Sakura asked smiling.

"To change the future," Hinata replied with a small smile.

As Hinata finished replying, both kunoichi started to go through hundreds of hand signs-their hands only a blur.

"**Past to Present Jutsu!"**

Two bright lights enveloped the women. As it died down, the clearing appeared as if the two were never there. The scrolls that had helped them with the Jutsu had disintegrated once the jutsu was completed.

Invisible forms of Naruto and Sasuke smiled. They were now ghosts, waiting to head to wherever they may need to go now that they were dead.

"Dead last, do you think they can do it?"

"Bastard! I'm not a dead last anymore!" Naruto replied, pumping an invisible fist up towards Sasuke as he did, "I bet they can do it, they can do anything, believe it!"

"Don't start with that stupid catchphrase now, Idiot. The fact remains that you died first. My conclusion being that you suck and are still a dead last," Sasuke said haughtily, baiting Naruto.

"Why you little! Fuck you! I killed more people than you!" Naruto screamed at Sasuke. The latter only smirked.

"Only because I heroically saved you from dieing, by sacrificing myself. If I hadn't done that, I would've easily killed many more than you."

"You didn't have to! I could have saved myself!"

"Don't be delusional, your hamstrings were torn. You wouldn't have been able to save yourself, no matter how hard you tried."

"I still killed more than you," grumbled the blonde, pouting. He crossed his hands over his vest and looked away from the Uchiha.

"Because I saved your sorry ass," a very smug Sasuke replied.

"Fuck you, Bastard!"

"Whatever, come on Naruto, our friends are waiting for us."

"They're waiting for me, not you! They've always loved me the best!"

"That's some bullshit, I've changed. At least one of them likes me better than you."

"You changed because of me, so their Sasuke-likeyness just rebounds off to me!"

"I did NOT change because of you!"

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"What does Sakura see in you?"

"What does Hinata see in you?"

"Touché."

With that, the two souls of Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha disappeared, leaving the destroyed clearing behind them.

_They left this future to make a new one. Maybe, they will finally get their Happily Ever After._

* * *

**Review and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism will be much appreciated, so don't be afraid to give it. **

**For my returning readers- As you can see, many things have changed. I realized how many of the things I added were just unnecessary and would've made Sakura and Hinata Mary Sues. I didn't mean for that to happen, but now I realize I would've made them overpowered and way too OOC. I have also changed the Jutsus from being in Japanese to English. I realized how pointless it was, since I would search for the translation just to put the English version at the end of the chapter. **

**For my newer readers- I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and continue to read my story. **

**I AM STILL IN NEED OF A BETA! **

**I searched for one myself, but none met the criteria that I was searching for. **

**Anyone who wants to beta this story should PM me and we can talk details.**

**I would also much appreciate it if someone would like to hear some of the ideas I have for future chapters and give comments about them.**

**I hope this version is much more to everyone's liking! **

_**~gaasakufoevah **_**(I really need to change my name on this. -sigh-)**


	2. Starting Bonds

_**~A New Future~**_

"_Thoughts"  
_"_**Inner Sakura"  
**_Writing  
**Jutsu  
**_Flashback_

"**Sasuke and I have formed a plan. If we do die, we want you two to go back to the past and make sure this war doesn't happen. Too many lives have already been lost and we can't let that continue. Can we trust you two to follow the plan?"  
**"**Hai!"  
**_**They only had one chance to change the future.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Starting Bonds**_

It is such a lovely, peaceful day in Konoha. During this time of much needed peace, civilians are buying their necessities, ninja are enjoying these rare, war-less moments, and preteen girls are falling out of the sky. What an average day in the ninja village of Konoha, indeed.

In a clearing outside of Konoha, two young girls were falling to the, very hard, ground below. Throughout the fall, both girls were trying to move themselves so that they wouldn't hurt themselves when they landed. Right before impact, both girls righted themselves and landed on their feet. The bubblegum haired girl ran to her partner and started to check for any injuries they may have sustained from the fall, looking like a very worried mother hen.

"Sakura-chan, I'm alright, I don't have any injuries. You can stop fussing over me," giggled the dark blue haired girl. Sakura smiled at her accomplice, but then a frown marred her face.

"We have the strength we had when we were thirteen," to prove her point, Sakura punched the ground. Nothing happened, no crater, not even a few cracks. "This would've been useful information to know about and Naruto could've mentioned it, that idiot. Oh well, nothing we can change now. At least our awesomeness saved us from our impending doom," a very ticked off Sakura grumbled. She proceeded to smooth down her hair that had tangled while falling from the sky.

"Our awesomeness? Really, Sakura-chan? It seems that some of our power came back with us, not much but enough to do a simple feat of landing on our feet as we're falling from the sky. You really shouldn't vilify Naruto-kun, he was at least able to create this jutsu and that isn't an easy feat," Hinata scolded. sakura merely crossed her arm around her midriff and turned away from the Hyuuga.

"Humph!"

"Did you just _humph _me?"

"Of course not, _Hinata-sama_! How could you believe _me_ to do such a frivolous act to the future _Uchiha Matriarch_?"

"Well, _Sakura-sensei_, sorry for thinking such a thing!"

"Don't call me sensei! You know I hate it when you call me that! I feel so _old_!" Sakura pouted, uncrossing her arms and turning to fully face her partner.

"Don't call me Hinata-sama!" Hinata retaliated.

"You know I can't do that, it's too much fun for me," Sakura dodged a well-aimed rock, "Now to the more important task at hand, we have to figure out exactly where we are to be able to sneak back into the village. You should use your technique."

"You could have said please," puffed out a _slightly_ irritated Hinata.

Hinata touched the ground with her pointer and middle fingers and closed her eyes. A few moments later, she opened them.

"We are about one hundred meters from the east gate," Hinata proudly stated.

Sakura gave an appreciative whistle, "Damn, Neji just had to teach you that technique didn't he?"

"Only people with the Byakugan can use it and he thought it would prove useful for me. Luckily, the technique doesn't require much chakra so I could use it right now in our current states. All I need to do is simultaneously run chakra through my pointer and middle fingers. It has all the effects of the Byakugan without all the chakra consumption needed for it."

"Lucky us… Do you think we can actually succeed with our mission?" a troubled Sakura asked.

"I don't think we'll succeed, I know we will. Believe in yourself, Sakura-chan. We can't start doubting ourselves now, especially since we're already in the past."

"That's true," Sakura sighed, "We should start heading into Konoha now."

Sakura and Hinata started to head towards Konoha, masking their chakra so that they weren't stopped and questioned.

"Sakura-chan, what day did Naruto-kun say he would send us back to?" Hinata asked.

"Naruto told me that the jutsu would take us to evening before our Genin teams were assigned to us."

"Oh, that's pretty smart for Naruto-kun."

"He has his moments," Sakura said with a small smile to herself, "There's the entrance we can go through to not be noticed."

Both kunoichi stopped in front of what appeared as a normal-looking bush. Hinata stepped forward and pushed away the bush. Behind the seemingly random bush was a small door. Hinata went on her hands and knees and opened the door. As she crawled through, Sakura kept watch.

"You can come now, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura wasted no time and crawled in after Hinata. Before going completely into the passageway, she moved the bush back and closed the door. She continued crawling until she was out the other end. As she was getting up, she noticed Hinata had a sad smile on her face.

"I can't believe it's actually Konoha. It looks so peaceful and happy, and it's not destroyed," Hinata stated in a nostalgic form. She looked up into the sky and her eyes were confronted by the colors of a sunset.

"And it's going to stay like that, Hinata. We came back to make sure of that."

Both girls faced each other and smiled.

"We won't let what happened to our Konoha happen to this one. We know what we need to do, Hinata, and we'll succeed. We better start heading to our homes, it's getting late. See you tomorrow, Hinata! Don't forget that we can't act like how we did in our future. We are going to have to act like we did back then, or rather now," Sakura said with a slight frown, body turned towards where her home was located.

"Sakura-chan, I don't think we have to completely act like we did. If worse comes to worse, we can blame it on the fact that we realized the maturity it takes to be a ninja," Hinata offered to the edgy Sakura.

"You could always think of solutions much faster than me, Hinata-chan."

"Our mission is going to legitimately start tomorrow. When do you plan on telling Naruto-kun about Kurama?" Hinata asked. Sakura concentrated and then let out a sigh.

"I don't necessarily know. Naruto and Kurama working together is something we need. Kurama can't keep on trying to possess Naruto, I won't allow it. I'm most likely going to speak with Naruto about what he has within him once Jiraiya-sama has strengthened the seal after Pedo-snake tampers with it. Naruto and Kurama have to respect each other for the rest of our plans to work," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"If worse comes to worse, you'll just have to tell Kurama about the future. Make sure Naruto-kun isn't around to listen in," Hinata stated, ignoring the involuntary shiver that ran through her at the mention of _Pedo-snake_.

"I'm not stupid, Hinata," Sakura stuck her tongue out at said Hyuuga, "Now that I think about it, I won't be able to tease you for awhile. Aw, but I thoroughly enjoy watching your face turn fifty shades of red in under ten seconds," Sakura baited Hinata.

"I do not turn fifty shades of red in under ten seconds!" a disgruntled Hinata stated.

"Is that a challenge I hear? Now, Hinata-chan, if I do recall correctly, Sasuke seemed to have been smiling when you kissed him. You caused the great Uchiha to _smile_. Sasuke and smiling do not belong in the same sentence Hi-na-ta," Sakura teased.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Hinata squeaked out indignantly, with a full-force blush covering her face. Sakura laughed at Hinata's reaction.

"Hook, line, and sinker. Goodnight Hinata-chan~" Sakura sang as she started walking home.

Hinata just gave a simple wave to the retreating back of her accomplice. She let out a soft sigh and she started to head to her clan's compound, humming as she went.

"_Shit, I forgot my family practically despises me for being weak. Fuck, I have to stutter! I can't just _not _stutter, people would get suspicious. The suspicious would get nosy, and I can't let that happen. Our plan has to stay a secret if we want it to succeed. This is complete fuckery! _Oh no…they _are corrupting me!_" Hinata felt completely awestruck. She had been 'corrupted' by her love and two best friends.

Hinata could already imagine what Sakura would respond to that.

"_We are not corrupting you, you could have left whenever you wanted to,_" Sakura's voice rang inside her head. She could practically feel Sakura crossing her arms and sticking out her tongue. Sakura's responses were quite predictable. Hinata decided to continue this little conversation between herself, if only to pass the time.

"_But I _didn't_, so it is the fault of all three of you. Corrupting my innocence, how dare ye!_"

"_Did you just go Medieval on me? Oh _hell _no! This just got serious. You are not allowed to eat umeboshi for a full month!"_

"_W-What?! You can't do that!"_

"_I can't? Dear, you are sadly mistaken. I am your _sensei_, so I can dictate your eating habits if it would help you with your medical training,"_ imaginary Sakura responded to Hinata, adding an evil laugh to add effect. Hinata could only outwardly pout.

It's _okay_ to talk with yourself sometimes.

It's _okay_ to add another voice into your thoughts if it was someone you knew inside out.

It's _okay_ to have arguments with this other voice.

It's _not_ okay to _lose_ to this other voice.

Hinata just sighed. How crazy was she to lose to her self-created Sakura?

_**The Next Day**_

**With Hinata**

Hinata was humming a tune she didn't quite know where she got from while getting ready. Yesterday was utterly uneventful. Once she had arrived home, everybody in the compound ignored her-like always. She let out a long sigh.

"I wonder how Sakura-chan is doing? Maybe she's trying to surprise me with umeboshi? A girl can dream that Sakura-chan gets me pickled ume fruit, I haven't had some in quite a while. I can't even buy some from Soyokaze-kun because he can't open his own little shop since he's too young. Soyokaze-kun was so unlike what his name entailed-_soft breeze_," Hinata thought out loud. She started to remember when she had first met her friend, Soyokaze.

_Flashback_

**Hinata POV**

_GRRROWL_

"How embarrassing, I must be really hungry. Where is Sasuke-kun? He said he was going to take me to a place that had just opened_," as I finished my thoughts, I saw a small black hawk heading towards me. "_Taka? That's Sasuke's messenger hawk…"

_I held up my arm so that Taka could land on it. As I inspected his leg, I found a piece of paper attached to it. I carefully pulled the note off of Taka's leg and opened it up._

_Hinata,_

_I am sorry that I won't be able to personally take you to the place I was talking about, but the Dead Last and the Weakling wanted to tell me something. I will try my hardest to get to the shop I found as soon as I can. The directions are on the back of this paper. Get to the shop and order whatever you would like, I will be there soon._

_Sasuke Uchiha_

_As I turned the paper around, I noticed there were directions written on the back. I smoothed Taka's feathers on his head and then smiled at the loyal hawk. As if understanding that I had finished reading the note, he flew back towards his master_._ I started to head to the shop, all the while wishing that Sasuke-kun was next to me. At least I now knew where he was._

"_I can never understand why he keeps calling Sakura-chan a weakling. She has gotten so much stronger," I spoke out loud. I continued towards my destination, thinking about random things that weren't important. While I was lost in my thoughts, I arrived at the small shop that Sasuke-kun had told me about in a timely fashion. I looked up at the name on a sign that was on top of the door._

Suzushii Ryori

"'Cool Cuisine'? It has a nice ring to it, might as well head on inside."

_As I opened the door, a small jingle filled the quiet room. When I looked inside, I found that it was completely empty. The room was fully furnished and ready for business. The walls were a soft blue with some opened windows located every few meters to let in the soft breeze that was coming from outside. The lamps on the ceiling weren't on, for the sunshine from outside provided all the light needed inside. The white hardwood flooring was a big contrast to the black cushions and black low, wooden dining tables located around the room. I started to think that maybe I was in the wrong place since there was no one around, so I looked at the paper in my hand. There was no mistaking it, this was the place._

"_Umm, is anyone here?"_

_I started to feel uncomfortable being all alone. I really wished that Sasuke-kun would just appear and make everything less uncomfortable. Deciding that I should just leave and wait for Sasuke-kun outside, I started to turn towards the door. Before I could complete the turn, I heard a door, across from where I was standing, open and someone step out. I turned towards the sound and noticed a young man there._

"_A costumer? A costumer! Oh dear, I hope I haven't made you wait long! That would just be terrible! Now come over here, darling! I need to get you seated and get you a menu. Sit right here, I'll be right back!" I was a bit shocked at this young man's boisterousness, but complied and went to where he had pointed me to. As I sat on my knees, I noticed how comfortable the cushions were._

"This is quite cozy. If anything, my wait for Sasuke-kun will now be much more relaxing."

_Just as I was getting relaxed, the strange man came out once again-this time with a menu._

"_Here is the menu. It's fabulous, if I do say so myself! Now take a gander at what I have to offer! I promise you won't regret a thing!" the strange man said while winking and showing off his pearly white teeth. I started to feel awkward once again, so I stared at the menu. As soon as I looked down, one word popped out towards me that made my mouth instantly water. _

Umeboshi

"_I'll have some umeboshi, please!" Realizing how quickly I had said that, I couldn't help but blush and stutter out a quick apology. _

"How embarrassing," _I thought, hoping against all odds that Sasuke-kun would appear. _

"_You're just in luck! That is my specialty, dear! You will not be disappointed!" the strange man said once again, his smile getting bigger. All I could do was nod. As the eccentric man started to talk himself, I took this opportunity to study him. _

_The peculiar man had dark gray hair that was completely straight except at the ends, where it curled a bit up. He wore a gray v-neck that was a bit tight on him. Underneath he wore a light purple, long-sleeved, form-fitting shirt. There were two things that were very odd about him. The first were his pants. They looked _too_ tight _(_"'_Skinny jeans?'" _I thought._). _A black chain connected a loop from the front of his pants to a loop on the back. Finally, there were his shoes. I recognized them from one of Hanabi's magazines from the western lands. I think they were called Converse, or something of the like. As I finished studying his clothes, I paid more attention to his face. His eyes were a bright purple color, and his smile seemed to have been stuck on his face. It felt like he never stopped smiling. On his cheeks was a faint dusting of pink. I tried to recall if he always had that, and he did. Ever since I walked inside his cheeks have had some pink glow on them._

"_I will go now, dear. Your umeboshi will be out in a few! Do call if you need anything! Would you like anything to drink while you wait?" the eccentric man asked._

"_A water, please." I really hoped that Sasuke-kun would get here quickly._

"_Right away, dear!" _

_The strange man left, then came back moments later with a glass of water in hand._

"_Here you go!" the man exclaimed._

"_Umm, thank you…?" I abruptly stopped. I didn't know the his name._

"_Oh dear! Forgive my rudeness! I completely forgot to introduce myself! Soyokaze at your service!" Soyokaze then bowed. "Oh! And what is your name, sweetie?"_

"_Hinata," I answered him. _

"_You have a beautiful name! But what to expect from a beautiful girl! Do you want to hear a joke?" Soyokaze asked. I was a bit hesitant, but I didn't think there would be any danger if I heard him out._

"_Sure," I told him. I was starting to feel more relaxed around him._

"_How do you make a tissue dance?!" _

"_I don't know, how do you make a tissue dance?" I replied. Soyokaze covered his mouth and tried to hold in his giggles._

"_Put a little boogie in it!" he started to laugh quite loudly and had to hold onto his knees to not fall down. I started to giggle lightly, covering my mouth as I did. I wasn't laughing at the joke, but more at the reaction he gave at his own joke. It was downright hilarious. It made me want to go out in full blown laughter, too. Here was this complete stranger, and he already made me laugh. He was so cheerful and always smiling. _

_Slowly, he started to calm down. _

"_Sorry 'bout that! I crack myself up sometimes! I will go and make your umeboshi now!"_

_He quickly got back up then headed toward the door with a sign that said KITCHEN on it. It was the door that he had just exited out of._

"_Don't be afraid to ask for anything!" Soyokaze-kun yelled over his shoulder. The door banged onto the wall when it was closing. I heard a muffled 'sorry' and let out a small smile._

"WAIT! Did I just think Soyokaze-kun? Damn it, he has already made me think of him as a friend… He is very flamboyant, but it's a nice quality on him."

_I closed my eyes and tried to relax once again now that I was alone. I picked up the glass of water that was set on the table and sipped some of the liquid out of the glass._

"Where are you, Sasuke-kun?"

_A small jingle filled the silence that was in the room, and I turned toward the door. There in all his glory was my Sasuke-kun._

"_Sasuke-kun!" I swiftly got up and glided towards him._

"_Hmm?" Sasuke-kun looked annoyed, then he saw that it was me. He let out a small smile that few people ever saw and started to walk towards me. When we were right in front of each other, he spoke. His voice felt like silk to my ears. _

"_Hinata, I brought you these," Sasuke-kun then held out his hand. In his hand was a bouquet of roses. They are my favorite flowers and I absolutely adored them. I took them from his hand and gave him a peck on the mouth. With my free hand, I grabbed his hand and took him to were I was sitting._

"_Have you ordered yet?"_

"_Yes, I kept the menu so you could look it over for yourself," I told Sasuke-kun while holding out the menu towards him. He gracefully took it and started to look through it. After a few moments, he snapped it shut and gave a small smile._

"_Did you find anything to your liking, Sasuke-kun?" I asked him, while having a small smile on my face._

"_Hn."_

_Sasuke-kun reached across the table and held my hand, while rubbing the top of my hand with his thumb. It was the small things that made me love Sasuke-kun even more. He may not speak much, but his actions spoke volumes. We stared into each other's eyes, and I felt like I could just stay this way forever. I felt like I was melting, and my insides were turning into mush. The moment was destroyed when the door marked KITCHEN opened with a loud bang._

"_Oh dear! I could have dropped the food! Oh heavens no! That would just be completely and utterly dreadful!" Soyokaze came from the now open doorway and started to head towards where Sasuke-kun and I were. Soyokaze carefully put down my umeboshi on the table, then straightened himself back up._

"_There you go, sweetie! If you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask!" Soyokaze-kun gave a thumbs up while winking and showing his bright, white teeth._

"_AHEM! I would like to order," a very pissed off Sasuke-kun told the man. I didn't even know why he was pissed off, Soyokaze-kun didn't say anything bad._

"_Soyokaze-kun, Sasuke-kun would like to order," I told Soyokaze-kun before Sasuke-kun could get anymore pissed._

"_Right away, Hina-chan! Now what would you like, Mr. Grumpy-Pants?" Sasuke-kun seemed to have gotten even more pissed off._

"_Tomatoes and some rice balls. That is all, now go," Sasuke-kun seethed out to Soyokaze-kun._

"_Okay then! Would you like anything to drink while I make that for you?" Soyokaze-kun basically fumed out. His smile was still in place, but his eye was twitching._

"_No, now shoo."_

_Soyokaze-kun stiffly turned and left, not even shooting a backward glance. I turned towards Sasuke-kun. To an outsider looking in, Sasuke-kun looked expressionless. To me, I noticed the slight narrowing of his eyes and how he had stopped rubbing circles on my hand. I gave a gentle squeeze, and he turned towards me. He focused his attention to me, but his eyes gave off the emotions of irritation and confusion. With the look he was giving me, I felt confused._

"_What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?" I asked, trying to find out the problem._

"_What's wrong? What's wrong?! What's wrong is that douche calling you Hina-chan and sweetie! And you're calling him Soyokaze-kun like if you didn't just meet him!" Sasuke-kun looked furious. He actually _looked_ furious. It all finally clicked in my mind, he was jealous. I gave him a small smile._

"_Sasuke-kun, are you jealous?" Sasuke-kun looked completely baffled that I would even put his name and jealous in the same sentence. _

"_Uchihas don't get jealous," was his simple reply._

_I continued with what I started, "I could never love anyone other than you. You are my everything. If I add -kun to Soyokaze-kun, it's because I feel comfortable around him. He is just a friend, and nothing more. When he comes back out, I'll set him straight if it would make you feel better?"_

"_Hn," Sasuke-kun replied, not looking a me. He looked nervously at our intertwined hands, then back toward me._

"_Did you really mean that?" he asked, cautiously._

"_What do you mean?" I was confused. What could he possibly mean by his strange question?_

"_That I mean everything to you…" Sasuke-kun trailed off and looked back down, a faint blush on his cheeks. I found this completely adorable. I reached across the low dining table, and lifted his chin up._

"_Every word of it," I slowly leaned towards him in a moment of bravery, as he leaned towards me. Just as our lips were about to connect, the irritating jingle of the entrance door reached our ears. I stared angrily at the door, waiting to see who disturbed our moment. As the door opened wider, two people I didn't expect to be seeing came skipping in._

"The NaruSaku duo…"_ In my mind I slammed my face repeatedly onto the table. Outwardly, I could only put on a fake smile._

_Lucky for them, unlucky for Sasuke-kun and me, they saw us. They started to head towards us, telling jokes to each other all the while getting closer to were Sasuke-kun and I were._

"_Why hello there, Hinata-kun, Sasuke-chan! I wouldn't have _ever _thought about seeing you two here!" a very cheery Sakura-chan stated._

"_Dead Last, Weakling," Sasuke-kun grunted out a greeting._

"_Bastard!/Asshole!" the duo yelled back towards Sasuke-kun._

"_Sakura-chan and I would get a table away from you two, but now that I feel like reminiscing, I want to sit with you guys! You won't mind that, will you Sakura-chan?" I looked towards Sakura-chan and saw her glaring daggers towards Sasuke-kun._

"_Why of course not, Naruto! Lets sit right here, it seems as if Sasuke has been saving our seats for us. Move, Asshole!" Sakura-chan didn't wait for Sasuke-kun to move as she forcefully grabbed Sasuke-kun from his collar, picked him up from his seat, then dropped him right next to me. He looked pretty miffed about the whole ordeal, but decided not to comment on it. He glared at the duo in front of us and I decided that he shouldn't stay mad at our friends for too long. I intertwined my fingers with his, and his glaring stopped. I felt quite accomplished. Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun sat down across from us and started to snicker. Soon enough, Naruto-kun's stomach started to growl._

"_Sakura-chan! I'm hungry!" Naruto-kun whined towards Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan had conveniently found the menu that was still on the tabletop and started to study it. _

"_Lucky for you, Naru-idiot, there's Ramen on here," Naruto-kun pouted at Sakura-chan's nickname for him, "There's syrup-coated Anko dumplings on here! I will feast on their entrails and devour their very souls!" Sakura-chan started to cackle evilly._

_I was a bit frightened at Sakura-chan's reaction, but I blamed it on her training with Anko Mitarashi. While training under Anko, she had gotten even more scary… Not that I would ever tell that to her face. Who knows what she'd do to me?_

_A loud bang filled the room and Naruto-kun shoved Sakura-chan in front of him. He was screaming out things like 'take her!' and 'don't hurt me!' Sakura-chan looked furious that her boyfriend would basically lay her out to dry. She hit him on his head, and that got Naruto-kun to fall face first onto the floor, he slowly got up and started to ask Sakura-chan why she was so abusive. Sasuke-kun smirked at Naruto-kun's pain, while Sakura-chan simply huffed and paid him no mind. I giggled, but then turned my attention towards where the loud bang had come from. Standing there was Soyokaze-kun, completely dumbstruck. Everything was quiet as the rest of the occupants in the room noticed the new presence. Soyokaze-kun quickly, and swiftly, walked towards our table and laid down the tomatoes and rice balls for Sasuke-kun. Soyokaze-kun looked a bit strange though, he kept looking towards Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun._

"_What are you staring at?!" the brash Naruto-kun that we all know asked. Naruto-kun had stood up, and was now pointing at Soyokaze-kun._

_Soyokaze-kun did something that completely baffled me. Hell, it probably shocked all of us._

"He just blushed!"_ Soyokaze-kun slowly righted himself, then made his way towards Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun seemed confused as the stranger got closer to him. When Soyokaze-kun was in front of Naruto-kun, you were able to notice that Naruto-kun was about a head taller than Soyokaze-kun. The next events would forever scar everyone else in the room._

_Soyokaze-kun quickly, and swiftly took Naruto-kun's hand and laid a kiss onto it. Soyokaze-kun righted himself once again then stared right into Naruto-kun's eyes. Shocked blue clashed with adoring purple._

"_I am honored to serve such an exquisite male such as yourself! You're skin has been lightly kissed by the sun gods themselves! Your bright, ocean blue eyes must have been jewels that the great ocean gods once possessed! Your body! Oh, your body! It belongs to a god! God himself must be smiling down on me right now for he has let my unworthy eyes feast upon you! Oh, by the name of God, what is the name that you possess?!"_

_Everyone had mixed reactions. Sasuke-kun looked like he was trying real hard not to laugh, Sakura-chan's face was hidden by her hair, while Naruto-kun looked baffled. I felt completely confused and surprised. One thought was running through all four of our minds though._

"What the hell…"

"_Who are you?!" Naruto-kun asked while ripping his hand away from Soyokaze-kun and hiding behind Sakura-chan._

"_Soyokaze Hatake, at your service!" Soyokaze-kun bowed, having a deeper blush than ever before on his cheeks._

"_I should probably explain," a cheery voice stated as the owner of the voice came from above. As everyone looked up, they saw a familiar Copy-Nin hanging upside down, still reading his _literature.

"_Uncle Kakashi! What are you doing here?" Soyokaze-kun asked, still sporting his smile._

"_Well, you see… your mom thought that I should see how you were holding up. It looks like she was right on the bulls eye with her superstitious feeling."_

"_UNCLE?!" Team Kakashi wondered. Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan had yelled it out, while Sasuke-kun just marginally widened his eyes. I was so confused right now._

"_Hmm? Oh yeah, this is my nephew. He's the son of my distant cousin."_

"_Kaka-sensei! Why did he harass my Naru-idiot?!" an angry Sakura-chan asked. She hated it when others tried to steal away her 'Naru-idiot' from her. She had mentally traumatized a _Jounin _because she was flirting with Naruto-kun. I shivered, remembering the day that Anko's training with Sakura paid off. _

**Flashback within a Flashback **

_Sakura's POV_

**I was clenching my gloved fist. Not five feet in front of me, some **skank** had the audacity to flirt with **MY** boyfriend!**

"_**That bitch wants to die, Outer! Kill her! Maim her! Show her that she can't flirt with our man and get away with it! Look at our poor Naru-chan! He looks like he wants to find a way to escape! That whore is making Naru-chan uncomfortable! I DEMAND BLOOD!"**_** a very angry Inner was the best at getting me even more riled up than I was before. I walked toward the pair, and tapped the stupid bitch on the shoulder. She had the nerve to turn around smiling! Once she noticed that it was me, she looked scared. **

"_That's right, whore! Be afraid of me!"_**I thought in my head, but outwardly I was just innocently smiling. **

"**I-I can explain, Sakura-san! Naruto-kun was flirting with me! I swear!" the poor bimbo bitch thought I would believe her!**

"_**She said Naruto-kun! She will pay!"**_

"**Oh really? Then why did you just say Naruto-kun?!" I asked casually, not showing any trace in the fury I was about to unleash. I even inspected my nails. Anko-sensei taught me that. Don't show your fury until the last possible moment, then pounce.**

"**It was a slip of the tongue! I swear! I didn't mean to! Promise! He tried to seduce me!" Oh HELL NO! This bitch wants a death note! **

**I looked towards my Naru-idiot and I noticed he was completely awestruck. His lips were moving like if he were trying to say something. I knew that it would have been words to defend himself. But he didn't need to, I whole-heartedly trusted him anyways. **

**Now, back to the task at hand.**

**I slowly headed towards the Jounin bitch, and grabbed her by her collar. While all this was happening, a small crowd had formed. I sweetly smiled at the tramp, then the next words smoothly rolled off my tongue.**

"**How 'bout we have a little spar? Lets say a Code 3 spar?"**

**The girl looked visibly scared. She knew what Code 3 entitled. The opponents could do whatever they pleased, as long as they didn't kill nor maim their opponent. The girl then gained hope, and fire shown in her eyes.**

"**Lets have this fight then, you stupid bitch!" the Jounin girl then spit on my face. I let go of the tramp, then wiped off her disgusting spit from my face. Who knows, maybe skank could be contagious? As I looked into the crowd, I saw Anko-sensei smirking at me. I positively **_**beamed**_** at her.**

"**Anko-sensei! Would you mind being the referee? We will need one just incase one of us goes too far." **

**I knew I would be the one going to far, but oh well! All is fair in love and war~**

"**Sure! I would just absolutely love being the referee!" Anko-sensei replied, cackling evilly.**

**As we now had a referee, I started to head towards Training Ground 7. I looked back towards my opponent and smiled sweetly at her.**

"**You coming?"**

**~ElOhEl~**

**At Training Ground 7, two females were staring right at each other. One was filled with hate and determination, while the other just showed false innocence and an inner calm.**

"**You both know the rules! Everything goes! Just don't kill or maim your opponent! Ready?! Begin!" Anko-sensei quickly back jumped away from between me and this ho.**

"**Ready to get beaten, bitch?! I will show Naruto-kun that he belongs to me, and not you! I will prove to everyone that Sakura Haruno is nothing more than a weak, crybaby, stup-" I felt the Jounin girl's nose break under the impact of the punch that I generously gave her.**

"**Aye, Skank! Anko-sensei said begin!" **

**The stupid shit head got up from the ground and started to throw kunai and shuriken at me quickly. If I were a Chunin or even a low-level Jounin, I would have been hit by a lot of them. But since I'm not, I easily dodged them all with ease. The girl looked absolutely stricken with fear. She started to form Jutsu after Jutsu to try and hit me, but it was all in vain. I dodged every Jutsu she threw at me. Finally, her barrage of attacks stopped, and I quickly took that as an opportunity and hid in some trees. Once I knew she couldn't find me, I slid my eyes shut and started to channel chakra**

"**Why don't you stop hiding you stupid whore?! Are you afraid?! Are you shaking like a leaf right now?! I bet you are you stupid bitch! Naruto-kun will finally notice me once I beat you here!"**

"**Do you really believe that? Do you really think a weak Jounin like you could beat me? You are a foolish one, Haru!" my voice echoed all around the scared Haru. I could feel the waves of fear coming from her. The **Voice Echoing Jutsu **was very useful if you wanted to scare your opponent. I slowly opened my eyes then slipped out of the cover of the trees. Haru saw me, then quickly pulled out some more kunai and shuriken and started to throw them at me. They were less precise than before, but they came just as quick. I casually walked into the barrage of incoming projectiles. Everyone's eyes were wide open.**

"**What are you doing Sakura-chan?!" I could hear Naruto's concern through his voice.**

"**Trust me…" was all I said as I let all the weapons seemingly hit me. I looked right into Haru's eyes, and she looked right into my eyes. My **_**fucking gray **_**eyes. She kept staring, guess she didn't notice the change in color. (**"How was _she_ a ninja?"**) Her stupid mistake. That Haru had the audacity to smirk at me. Oh, that shit head was going to pay. Once all the weapons seemingly hit me, Haru started to jump in joy. She thought she had me beat. How clueless…**

_Normal POV_

**Haru was jumping for joy. She had beaten the great Sakura Haruno! Now she could claim Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki and all his fortune as hers.**

"**Woo! I won! I won!" Haru was too distracted that she didn't notice the figure walking towards her until it was too late. A grand shadow fell over her, and she stopped jumping. She slowly turned around and looked at the mass that was blocking out the sun. It looked exactly like Sakura, but in monochromatic colors. This huge Sakura also seemed to have INNER plastered onto her forehead. Haru looked around, and noticed that no one was around. Also, everything seemed to feel darker and she noticed that nothing had any color. Haru looked towards were Sakura should have been, and her eyes widened. She felt a breeze pass right behind her. Sakura appeared right next to her, her left hand holding Haru's left shoulder. Sakura softly spoke into Haru's ear. **

"**It seems you overestimated yourself. Allow me to present my Inner. You might be wondering why the others aren't here and why everything seems to be in monochrome colors except for you and me. Do you see that figure blocking out the sun? That's my Inner. You see, once you had looked into my eyes, the fight was all but over. You let me capture you into Inner's world, and she has some problems with you that I'll let her work out on. Scream all you want, no one will be able to hear you. My **Bloody Nightmare Jutsu **is basically a modified version of the Tsukuyomi. You are stuck in here, and no one can get you out until the torture is done. My Jutsu is quite awesome in the fact that one second in the real world is one year in here. You will be stuck in here until my Inner feels like letting you go. You should give Sasuke thanks for helping me with this Jutsu. Without him, this Jutsu wouldn't have been impossible." **

**Sakura started to walk away, but turned one last time, "My Inner isn't very forgiving, and has a lot of pent up rage in her. She hasn't had fun in so long. See you later, Haru-chan!"**

**All Sakura heard when she was about to leave, were screams of pure and unaltered fright. **

**When she opened her eyes once more, she was back on Training Ground 7. Around her body were all the weapons that should have impaled her. They lay on the floor and Sakura didn't have a scratch on her. She looked up and saw Haru faint onto the floor. Everyone was wondering what happened, except for Sasuke who had watched the entire thing. He knew what happened, and he smirked. **

**All everyone else had seen was Sakura about to get impaled by the kunai and shuriken, then a gust of air surrounded her. Once the air died down, Haru had fainted.**

"**You should probably get her to the hospital, she will be facing some hard-core mental issues when she wakes up."**

**With that, Sakura walked away.**

**End Flashback within a Flashback**

"_Kaka-sensei! I will not be repeating myself again, why did he harass my Naru-idiot?!" _

_Sakura-chan was still peeved off with the fact that someone dare try to steal her man._

"_How to word this? Hmm…" Kakashi-san slowly closed his book then tucked it into his pouch._

"_I'm gay!" a very proud Soyokaze-kun proclaimed._

"_EH?!" _

_End Flashback_

"_That was such an eventful day… and even more days like that soon followed. Soyokaze-kun and Sakura-chan became eternal rivals over Naruto-kun. Obviously, Sakura-chan would always win. Naruto-kun has loved her since who knows when. But, she did say that it was fun having a friendly rivalry with someone that you could hangout with at the end of the day. Sakura-chan confessed that she missed having that kind of rivalry ever since Ino-chan had died when she and a few others were ambushed by the enemy,"_ Hinata slowly closed her eyes. "But that won't happen this time. Ino-chan will live, and Sakura-chan and Soyokaze-kun will still be close friends once we meet him again."

Determination flashed across her eyes. She slowly inhaled, then exhaled. The young Hyuuga started to put on her clothes for the day. They were the ones from when she was a Genin.

As Hinata finished changing, she put on her ninja sandals and started to head out. She yelled out a bye and no reply came. She could only expect that.

She arrived at the academy five minutes early. She walked to the front row and took a seat. Two other people were already seated there. She recognized them as Kiba and Shino. Hinata headed towards them and decided she might as well introduce herself to her future teammates.

"H-hello, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. Mind if I sit here?" Hinata tried to keep on stuttering, but _damn _stuttering took a lot of work. She was able to stutter at the beginning at least, so her shy Hyuuga Heiress act wasn't completely ruined.

"Hello! I'm Kiba Inuzuka! You can totally sit her and we can become friends, right Akamaru?" Kiba asked the white puppy that was on his head. The puppy, known as Akamaru, only yipped an answer.

"That's right, boy! She does seem nice! And she doesn't stutter nearly as much as I thought she did. That's an added bonus, I think stuttering is annoying!" Hinata's eye twitched, but she kept her smile up.

"Arf!"

"What do you mean that was rude?! It's true! Stuttering is really annoying!" Another eye twitch.

"Arf!"

"I guess that's true… But I'm also right! I mean, when people stutter I can't even understand them!" Two more eye twitches. Hinata was getting very aggravated with what the Inuzuka was saying.

"Arf! Arf!"

"I wouldn't like that, I guess… Hey Hinata? I'm sorry if I offended you with my comments, no hard feelings right?" Kiba laughed while scratching his head with his left hand and holding out his right hand out. Hinata took his hand and squeezed, hard. Kiba looked completely baffled, while Hinata just kept smiling. She let go of his hand then turned towards the other boy.

"Shino Aburame," Shino muttered. Hinata gave a small smile towards Shino, then turned towards the front of the class.

Hinata's smile failed to fall off her face. She would start these bonds first. She looked up at the clock and noticed Sakura was running late, something that Genin Sakura never did. As she looked towards her left, she noticed that Naruto was about to sit a seat away from Sasuke. If her memory wasn't failing her, then Naruto and Sasuke were about to kiss in a few minutes. Sakura had three minutes, at most, to get here.

"_180... 125... 72... 20... 10... 5... 4... 3... 2..." _Hinata counted down in her head, worriedly.

_**At the Time Hinata Woke Up **_

**With Sakura**

"Achoo! Fuck my life! And if the superstitions are correct, who's talking about me!?" an irate Sakura Haruno yelled.

When she had gotten home, her parents went into overprotective mode. All they did was nag and nag and nag! But, she felt completely overjoyed and happy at the thought. She had lost all contact with her parents once the war started. Sakura had sent them towards the coast so that they could stay far away from the war zone. The last she heard of them, they were still alive and living comfortably.

They were one of the few that actually didn't see Naruto as the Kyuubi. They had never harbored ill feelings towards the boy because of the beast, instead it was because he was such a prankster. Sakura was proud to have such understanding parents.

Now, here was the dilemma of today. She couldn't find any umeboshi _at all_.

"_Shit, I want to be nice to Hinata and give her some umeboshi but I can't find any!"_

"_**Fuck, why the hell weren't you prepared! You should've looked for vendors yesterday while heading home! But no, you just couldn't think about that now could you? Why was I cursed to be stuck in such an incompetent person's mind? Why couldn't I be Hinata-chan's Inner?!" **_Inner ranted towards Sakura.

"_Inner, you just fill me with happiness. I mean, _really,_ your words don't ever fail at encouraging me. Wait…_Inner_?!"_

"_**That's my name, don't wear it out" **_Inner sent a wink towards her Outer.

"_No, I mean, _Inner?! _You traveled back into the past with me?"_

"_**I guess so…"**_

"_Well, whatever. I need to find umeboshi somewhere!"_

"Fuck, were can I get umeboshi? Where is Soyokaze when you need him? Maybe I can get some as I head to the academy? Aw fuck, the academy! How could I forget?"

Sakura rushed to put on her ninja sandals. Luckily she had been able to put on her clothes before she started to panic. As she ran out of her house through her front door, she noticed how the dress limited her movements. She would need to get that replaced, and soon. She couldn't go off and die because of a stupid outfit problem.

"Bye Mom, Dad!"

"Bye honey, don't die!" Sakura's father yelled from the living room.

"Kizashi, don't say that! Don't get hurt, sweetie!" Her mother screamed from the kitchen.

Sakura hurried to the academy. As she ran out of her home, she didn't notice the person in front of her until it was too late.

"I'm so sorry, it's just that I'm late. Sakura Haruno is never late, I can't be late! Damn, I'm wasting time. Here, let me help you up!" Sakura offered a hand to the person she had bumped into. They took it and Sakura helped them up.

"No problem," a familiar voice responded.

"_Oh God!"_

"_**It's her!"**_

"Pink hair, abnormally large forehead, ugly. Hmm, I recognize someone like that. Hey, Forehead Girl!" Ino said while doing the 'L' sign across her forehead.

"I don't have time for this, Pig," Sakura muttered, sending a small smile towards the blonde. Ino was shocked at the gesture. Sakura had really missed the bubbly blonde, but she couldn't waste any more time catching up with her now. She would do that later.

Sakura started to run to the academy, hoping that somewhere along the way was a vendor that sold umeboshi.

"Bye Ino-pig, see you at the academy!"

"You won't beat me there, Forehead!" Ino screamed while running after the pink head. After trying to catch up to her pink haired rival, Ino lost her in the crowd.

"_FOREHEAD!"_

**~ElOhEl~**

"Can I have a bento full of umeboshi?" Sakura asked the vendor.

"Here, its 200 yen," the man said while holding out a box with one hand, while the other was waiting expectantly for the money. Sakura went into her pouch and took out her money. She handed it to the man and took the box of umeboshi. "Thank you for your services, young lady!"

"No problem!" Sakura yelled while racing towards the academy.

"_I remember umeboshi being cheaper," _thought a confused Sakura.

"_**It is in the future. With Hinata being Soyokaze's most valued costumer, we would always get deals! Add that to the fact we got him a man! ~" **_Inner Sakura sang.

"_Damnit, I only have a few minutes left! I'm about to be late!"_

"_**Hurry your fat ass up! We can't be late! Our perfect record will not be tainted because of you!"**_

_**In the Class**_

The class door slammed open. Everyone in the room turned to look at the person who was almost late.

"You were almost late, Ms. Haruno," Iruka informed her.

"Sorry about that, Iruka-sensei, I woke up late," Sakura replied with a slight blush.

She shrugged off the stares and went to sit between Naruto and Sasuke.

"Hold it, Forehead! I should be the one sitting next to Sasuke-kun!" screeched Ino. Many other girls were also behind her. Sakura looked at them, blinked once, twice, then sat down in the middle of Naruto and Sasuke.

"Get out of that seat! _I_ am supposed to sit there! Get off!" screamed Ino. The other girls behind her got mad, who said _Ino_ got to sit there. They wanted to! They all started to attack each other. Sakura was playing the oblivious card with them, she even started to inspect her nails.

"_I need to do my nails, they are looking uh-glaay! Maybe I can set up a sleep over with the girls?"_

"_**You're going to need to befriend them first, idiot. Yet you call Naru-chan clueless…" **_Inner Sakura trailed off. Outer Sakura casually back handed her Inner then focused on what was happening in the real world.

Naruto got pissed that all the girls, minus two, were fighting over Sasuke. He got up from his seat and crouched on the desk. He was face to face with Sasuke. They were glaring fiercely at each other.

"_**Woah, dude, you can see sparks! Or am I imagining that? I knew I should have drank coffee in the morning…"**_

"_I didn't eat a nutritional breakfast this morning or drink my lovely coffee, so I am hallucinating. This is a no-caffeine hallucination, I just know it. Damn you caffeine!" _Sakura cursed her love-hate relationship with caffeine. She didn't know hallucinations could be so _real. _Sakura made a mental note to never skip breakfast or her coffee.

Sakura stopped her inner ramblings and focused on what was in front of her. Her Naru-idiot and Sasu-cakes were in an intense staring match. Something clicked in her memory bank.

"_They're going to kiss!"_

"_**Woah, thanks for that information, Captain Obvious! Unlike you, I have perfect memory."**_

"_Shut up."_

"_**Beautiful, charming, perfect, Inner-1. Ugly, rude, evil, Outer-0."**_

"_What the hell, Inner?! I'm you and you're me! You can't call yourself beautiful and then turn around and call me ugly."_

"_**Shush child, just focus on what's in front of you. Come on, happen already!"** _Inner said, a perverted giggle escaping her mouth.

The boy in front of them had jutted his elbow back so abruptly that it forced Naruto right onto Sasuke's lips. Both boys pulled back and started to gag. This image in front of Sakura almost made her laugh out loud. She stopped herself at the last second, but a few traitor giggles manages to escape.

Sakura looked towards Hinata and saw that her eyes were completely wide. She looked so traumatized. Sakura realized that Hinata was in the perfect position to watch what had happened. She couldn't help herself, Sakura just had to let a few chuckles through.

"_**Innocence-0, Awesomeness-1!"**_

"Quiet down! Let me tell you who your team and sensei are!" Iruka screamed at the class, using his **Huge Head no Jutsu**.

It worked. Everyone was silent. Ino gave up and sat in the middle of Shikamaru and Chouji. Iruka calmed down and started to read the Genin teams. Finally, he was about to announce Team 7.

"Team 7 will be: Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto looked up and paid close attention, "Sakura Haruno," Iruka didn't get to finish for Naruto yelled out a victory cry.

"Yes!" Naruto screamed. Sakura just gave a soft smile. Iruka coughed to get their attention.

"If you would let me finish! Team 7 will be: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha."

There was dead silence. You could have probably heard a mouse run across the floor, or even a pin drop. It was that silent, but not for long.

"What!? I should be with Sasuke-kun not them! They shouldn't even be that close to our Sasuke-kun!" most of the girls in the class yelled.

"That hurt, really, right here," Sakura sniffed while tapping the left side of her chest.

"I don't care what you think! I'm moving on! Team 8 is Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, and Shino Aburame."

Kiba yelled 'Yes!', Hinata faintly smiled, and Shino stayed stoic.

"And lastly, Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akimichi. Your sensei will be here in a few moments!"

Ino groaned, "Why do I have to be with lazy ass over here?!"

"I didn't ask to be in your team, troublesome women. This is such a drag," muttered Shikamaru, dropping his head back onto his desk. A few moments later, light snoring could be heard.

"Unbelievable!" Ino shrieked.

"-Munch- -Munch-" Choji was just calmly eating his bag of chips.

**~ElOhEl~**

The other Genin had already gotten their sensei and left. All that was left in the room were Teams 7, 8, and 10.

The classroom door opened, and a lady with bright crimson colored eyes appeared. She had jet black hair, and her Leaf headband was on her forehead. Her outfit looked like it was just bandages, with fishnet under. On her right side, she had a red sleeve. Her hands were covered in bandages that reached to her elbow. She had the standard ninja sandals.

"Team 8, I am Kurenai Yuhi, please follow me," Kurenai addressed her team then walked out.

Sakura quickly, threw the bento full of umeboshi to Hinata. Hinata caught it, looking surprised. She stared at Sakura before giving a soft smile. Shino and Kiba seemed to have been the only ones to have seen the exchange. They shrugged it off, pinning it on girl issues.

The next person that came in was a man. His hair and eyes were a deep onyx, he also had a beard. His forehead protector was on his forehead. He wore the standard Jounin flak jacket, with a blue long sleeved shirt underneath. His biceps were tied with bandages. His pants were blue and reached an inch below his knee. His sandals were the standard issued ones. His ankles were covered in bandages, stopping were his pants were and were his sandals started. On his wrists, he had some strange bracelets. On his waist he also had a bandana with the fire insignia. What made him stand out the most was that he had a cigarette in his mouth.

"I'm Asuma Sarutobi, follow me Team 10."

Team 10 followed him out. All that was left was Team 7.

"_And then there were three,"_ Sakura thought dejectedly. She _knew_ Kakashi would be late.

"Where's our sensei! We are the last ones here, and Iruka-sensei already left!" Naruto screamed. A light bulb must've magically appeared above his head, for he got a chalk board eraser and put it on the top of the door.

"This will teach him to be late!" Naruto yelled triumphantly.

"That won't work on our _Jounin_ sensei, Dead Last," Sasuke said with a smirk, obviously hoping to revel in another loss for Naruto.

During all of this, Sakura was taking a nap. When she heard the distinct sound of footsteps coming, she woke up and looked towards the door. Naruto and Sasuke watched her curiously. When Naruto was about to ask something, she held her pointer finger to her mouth. She motioned for Naruto to sit at his seat.

"He's coming."

As she finished saying that, the door slid open, and three things happened at once. The chalk eraser bounced on the man's head, Sasuke 'Hn'ed, and Naruto laughed.

"We got you sensei!" Naruto yelled.

"This 'we' that you speak of, that wouldn't include me and Sasuke? Would it? 'Cause I _will_ maim you with whatever is in current reaching distance!" Sakura threatened. Damn, those lessons with Anko _do _work in all sorts of situations.

"O-of course not, Sakura-chan!" Naruto quickly fixed his mistake.

"My first impression of you guys is… I hate you all. Meet me on the roof."

With that, their mysterious sensei 'poof'ed out of existence in a cloud of white smoke. Naruto and Sasuke looked shocked when they heard what their sensei said. Well Naruto clearly showed his shock, Sasuke did it internally. Uchihas aren't ever shocked, for an Uchiha was too superior to everyone to ever show a moment of normality.

"I'm going to head to the roof now, if you want, you guys can join me. Tootles!" Sakura laughed and started to run up the stairs. The boys, not wanting to be beaten by a _girl, _chased after Sakura. They weren't going to be beaten by a girl in a physical test, especially not a girl with_ pink hair_. That would just emasculate them.

_**On the Roof**_

All three Genin finally reached the roof, looking exhausted. Sakura didn't realize that her body wouldn't be able to handle that much physical exertion.

"_Not yet, anyways. I'll train and become as strong as I was._"

The newly formed team went and sat down on a the ground. Sakura sat right in the middle of her two male teammates. Their sensei was already there, he appeared to be reading a book. Naruto, with no patience for their new sensei, coughed. Loudly.

"Hm? Oh, well since you are all now here, lets start with introductions. You know, what you like, dislike, hobbies, and dreams for the future."

"Why don't you go first, sensei!? You know, so that we can see what to do!" Naruto yelled while pointing at him.

"Aren't you a loud one? Well, I am Kakashi Hatake. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes. As for my dream... I have lots of hobbies!"

The whole Genin team sweat dropped.

"_We only learned his name,"_ an irritated Sasuke said.

"_W-what!" _Naruto screamed in his head.

"_Why me? What did I do wrong? I was a relatively nice, normal kid! What did I do to get me this type of sensei? Whoever is up there, please make my sensei actually teach me something! I swear I won't mutilate Sasuke's leg this time! (Even if he does deserve it, that asshole!) Promise!" _Sakura tried to bargain with whatever force that could control her fate.

Kakashi inclined his head towards Naruto, signaling him to start.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! I like ramen, and training, and ramen, and Sakura-chan, and ramen! I dislike Sasuke-bastard and the three minutes it takes for my ramen to cool down! My hobbies are training and eating ramen! My dream for the future is to be the best Hokage of Konoha and get people to respect me!"

"_Interesting…" _Kakashi thought.

"_Dead Last, the hell are you trying to pull? Trying to show me up or something?" _Sasuke thought. He quickly backtracked and remembered he was an Uchiha. _No one _could show up an Uchiha.

"Naruto, you have an awesome dream. I will help you with whatever you may need to achieve it. You are my teammate and friend," Sakura sincerely told him.

"R-really? I'm your friend?"

"Of course you are. I have been a complete bitch to you, but that's about to change! One way for me to feel better about all the pain I've caused you is by helping out with your dream!"

"_**Nice speech, now… Let me have him! He's so sexy! I want his body! I will have his babies!" **_Inner screamed in Sakura's head.

"_Yo, horn-dog, crazy ho."_

"_**Yes~"**_

"_We are thirteen, you pervert!" _Sakura punched her Inner.

"Uchiha," Kakashi continued on in a tone that screamed he wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Hn, I like few things, and I dislike too many to name. My hobbies are training and taking walks. My dream is not a dream, but an ambition. I will kill a certain someone."

"_Is he talking about me?!" _a terrified Naruto thought, gulping audibly.

"_He's still going through with that then." _Kakashi thought, disappointed.

"Sasuke, this team could improve upon your success rate with killing _that man. _If you train with us, you're sure to get stronger in no time!" Sakura told him.

"I don't need help from a bunch of weaklings, but I will accept help from Sensei…" Sasuke hissed out.

"Offer still stands," Sakura replied, glaring at that ho. Trying to argue her point into his head would be a moot point. His head was too wrapped up around revenge at this point.

"You're the last one, Pinky! Have at it!" Kakashi cheered on with false happiness.

Sakura's eye twitched, but she hid it behind a smile. No use in harming her sensei.

"_**It's not like you could take him anyways, especially not at the strength level you're at."**_

"_Shut up."_

"_**Inner-2, Outer-0!"**_

"I'm Sakura Haruno. I like helping others, reading, training, and kicking ass. I dislike being called Pinky," she glared at Kakashi there, "people who put others down, people who judge others without knowing them, and being called _Pinky_! My hobbies are reading, training, hanging out with my friends, and finding out new things that can be weapons. My dream is to be the best medic-nin and kunoichi Konoha has ever made, that even surpasses the mighty Tsunade-sama, and the scariest female ninja that's scarier than even Anko Mitarashi! I also want to change that whole cloud of smoke ninjas use to travel. We will all get cancer or something because of that, it's such an important health problem that we should all help in. I mean, seriously? That smoke you use to travel will hurt someone one day!"

"_She's not like other kunoichi her age. I will have to actually read her file,"_ Kakashi thought. He quickly dispelled that though, "_Nah, I'll just ask Iruka."_

"_She isn't a fan girl anymore?"_ Sasuke considered this thought.

"_Sakura-chan is so cool!"_ Naruto exclaimed in his mind.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I have something to tell you three. Meet at Training Ground 7 tomorrow morning at six. We are going to have survival training. I suggest you don't eat breakfast, or you might throw it up during the test," Kakashi said cheerily.

"Why another test? Aren't we Genin already?! When are we going on action packed missions!" Naruto yelled out.

"This will test if you are really Genin material. But I warn you, there is only a 66% chance of passing. Well, bye!" Kakashi 'poof'ed out. Again. With his harmful smoke that could kill someone one day.

"Guys, you better get there at six, okay? We should get a nice, solid plan to pass this test. See you tomorrow!" Sakura yelled while she headed back from where she had come up. She wasn't going to try and jump off the building, Sakura didn't believe her body could handle that.

Sakura started to head home, ignoring everything around her. She didn't notice who was in front of her until it was too late.

"Ow," Sakura said out loud as she rubbed her butt after getting up from the ground. She looked forward and noticed that Hinata was on the floor.

"Oh God, Hinata! I didn't mean to bump into you!" Sakura quickly went towards the Hyuuga and helped her up.

"It's no problem, Sakura-chan. I just wanted to ask you how your team meeting went."

"It went as good as it could go, I guess. What about for you, Hinata-chan?"

"Just like before, everything went how it did before…" Hinata trailed off, an idea slowly forming in her head.

"Do you have survival training tomorrow, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura was caught off guard by the question, but still answered it.

"Yes, why?"

Hinata let a small smile grace her face. Her cheeks grew a bit pink at her idea and what it entailed.

"You should stop by the Hyuuga estate so I can give you a bento for your survival training and, um… Our teams should meet at Ichiraku's after training. That way we can publicly become friends," Hinata told her plan to the pink haired ninja. Said pink haired kunoichi slowly grew a mischievous smile on her face.

"Sure but is that really all your plan is counting for, Hi-na-ta?" Sakura asked the Hyuuga impishly.

"O-obviously, Sakura-chan!" Hinata countered, the blush still present on her cheeks.

"So it has nothing to do with meeting Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

Hinata's blush grew more intense as the moments passed on. She started to fan her face with her hands.

"That's absurd, Sakura-chan. My plan had no ulterior motives behind it. I was not planning on meeting S-Sasuke-kun."

"But Hinata-chan, you know _Sasuke-kun _is on my team. If you planned for my team to go, you had planned to see Sasuke," Sakura teased.

"I have to go now! Bye, Sakura-chan," Hinata quickly turned another direction and quickly sped home. Sakura cackled at the distress she put on the Hyuuga.

Sakura looked into the sky and noticed it was getting dark. She continued on her way towards her home, a bounce in her step as she walked. She continued thinking about a plan to pass the survival test and snatch a bell from her sensei.

"_I just want to get a bell this time!"_

* * *

**Still no beta -goes to a dark corner and weeps uncontrollably while hugging a Sasori plush doll-**

**Anyways~**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It's twenty pages long (if you only include the actual story). I don't know if any of the other chapters will ever be this long… They might if inspiration comes drop kicking my door -looks at door suspiciously- **

**Review and in the future I might have a shirtless Sasori~ (Yes I know, I'm bribing you…) **

**Or you can add this story to your alerts/favorites.**

**Whichever you prefer…**

**Well that's all I have to write.**

**Review or something!**

_**~gaasakufoevah **_**  
**

_**PS: I've uploaded a drawing of how Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki looked like in this story's future onto my DeviantArt. Go to my profile and there should be a link. Now onto drawing Sakura Haruno~ **_


	3. The Bell Test

_**~A New Future~**_

"_Thoughts"  
_"_**Inner Sakura"  
**_Writing  
**Jutsu  
**_Flashback_

"**Sasuke and I have formed a plan. If we do die, we want you two to go back to the past and make sure this war doesn't happen. Too many lives have already been lost and we can't let that continue. Can we trust you two to follow the plan?"  
**"**Hai!"  
**_**They only had one chance to change the future.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 3: The Bell Test **_

_**Training Ground 7: 6-ish AM **_

Naruto Uzumaki was pacing, and pacing, and _pacing_. He tangled his hands into his hair and let out a loud groan.

"Where is Sakura-chan!? It's not like her to be late… Oh God, what if she's in trouble?! What if she's screaming for help and we're just here, doing nothing to save her?!"

"Shut up, Dead Last. She will get here when she gets here," a dark haired boy drawled out.

"_Sakura is never late. What could be keeping her? Why was she acting so strange yesterday? Wasn't she a devoted fan girl of mine? Last I recall, her and the Yamanaka were the presidents of my fan base… Hn, whatever. What that weakling does in of no importance to me. I have to focus on my goal. _That Man _will die by my hands!"_ Sasuke's hands curled into fists. No matter what blocked his path, nothing would stop him from achieving his ambition. He is an avenger, and avengers seek revenge.

"Bastard, aren't you even a tiny bit worried about what could be happening to Sakura-chan?! She might be in trouble and you don't even care!" Naruto screamed at the stoic boy in front of him.

"Naruto, can you please refrain from screaming this early in the morning? I'm right here, safe and sound. You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself!" A bubblegum haired girl yelled at the blond, slapping him over the head to emphasize her point. Looking rather pleased with herself, the girl leaned her hip towards the left side, planting a hand on her left hip while balancing three bento on her right hand. She slowly shook her head, a small smile on her face triggered by her teammate's concern.

"Ow! Sakura-chaan!" Naruto whined, while rubbing his injured head.

"You brought that upon yourself, Naruto," Sakura stated, not guilty at all for the pain she inflicted upon her teammate, "Anyways… We won't be able to pass this test in the state we are in now. We are hungry, which makes us weaker than normal. We don't have a chance against Kaka-sensei if we aren't at our best."

Sakura stared pointedly at the bentos in her hand. Naruto and Sasuke ignored the bentos, focusing instead at their teammate's change of clothes.

Instead of her usual red dress, Sakura had opted to wear a red, sleeveless shirt with a zipper that went straight down then arched towards the left side. Black ninja pants covered her legs. Wrappings covered her right thigh, a black pouch situated on top. She had switched out her blue ninja sandals for black ninja sandals. On her waist was a white belt, holding two scrolls in place. One scroll had a red cross on it, while the other was colored a venomous purple. Sakura's hair cascaded down her back, her headband holding her bangs in place. The metal plate, with the Konoha insignia proudly displayed, gleamed as a ray of sun hit it.

"Sakura-chan, you changed your outfit! Why?" Naruto asked in his usual loud volume.

"Thank you for the compliment, Naruto. You know exactly what to say to make a girl feel amazing," Sakura said in false cheer.

"No! That's not what I meant Sakura-chan!" Naruto frantically said, "Y-you look amazing!" Naruto's face erupted into a blush once he finished his sentence. Instead of replying, Sakura gave him a small smile.

"_**Don't you just want to ravish him right now?" **_Inner Sakura said this with a predatory smile on her monochromatic face.

"_You are such a pervert, Inner!"_

"_**I am just the embodiment of all the things you wish you could say and do~"**_

"_Shut up!"_

"_**Inner- 3, Outer-0!" **_Inner Sakura proceeded to cackle.

Shaking her head to free herself from those thoughts, Sakura started to hand the two boys their bentos. Naruto gratefully took his, the aroma of ramen wafting into his nose, but Sasuke merely glared at his.

"I am _not_ going to eat that. What if Sensei sees us? He might automatically fail us for not heeding to his warning," Sasuke stated. Naruto's eyes widened and he looked guiltily down at his own bento.

"_Sakura-chan made this for me… How can I not eat it? But, I can't fail this test if I want to become Hokage… I hope Sakura-chan can forgive me!"_ Naruto looked dejected as he was handing Sakura back the bento she gave him.

"Naruto, eat," Sakura commanded, leaving no room for an argument. She stopped glaring at Sasuke to look at Naruto and give him a reassuring smile.

"I highly doubt Kaka-sensei would catch us. If yesterday was anything to go by, he won't be here for hours. Now eat your ramen, Naruto. I had to go to Ichiraku's to get it, don't make my efforts go to waste."

Naruto beamed at Sakura. She had gone through the trouble of stopping by his favorite ramen shop to get him this bento.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto tore off the lid of his bento and wolfed down the ramen greedily. The ramen in the bento gradually disappearing as he ate.

"The ramen was really good, Sakura-chan." Naruto gave her one of his signature smiles, not attentive to the fact that he had ramen broth around his mouth. Sakura laughed lightly and pulled out a napkin, lightly wiping away the broth. Naruto's face grew steadily redder as she continued to clean his face.

"There, now you're clean and there's no evidence of you having eaten at all," Sakura said, smiling at him as she did.

"T-Thank you, S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto stuttered out, his blush still evident on his cheeks.

"You're welcome, Naruto," Sakura turned her attention back to her other teammate, "Sasuke, you better eat your bento! My friend made it for you and it would break her heart if you don't eat it. If you hurt her like that, I have no qualms with punching you back to last spring!" Sakura threatened.

"Hn."

"It's filled with freshly picked tomatoes cut into small pieces with a few rice balls with bonito filling on the side."

Sasuke wordlessly took the offered bento and opened it. Inside the bento were the tomatoes and rice balls that had been promised. He silently broke apart the chopsticks that came with the bento and hesitantly picked up a piece of tomato. The taste appeared to be satisfactory as he continued eating. While this was happening, Sakura had started to eat her bento which was filled with syrup-coated anko dumplings and anmitsu-small cubes of agar jelly.

"_Hinata would make Sasuke a bento. She most likely would have made Naruto a bento too if I hadn't said I would get him one myself."_

"_**Thank the heavens that Teuchi was prepping for the day. If Naru-chan wasn't his best customer, I don't think he would've given us that ramen!"**_

"_At least we got it…"_

"Thank you," Sasuke muttered, seemingly done with his bento, effectively dragging Sakura out of her thoughts. Sakura gave him a small smile and rapidly finished her bento.

"I see you liked the tomatoes," snickered Sakura.

"Hn," he stated while looking away and crossing his arms over his chest.

Sakura took all of the boxes and put them on the ground. The other two looked at her strangely as she motioned for them to come to her.

"Do any of you two know any fire jutsus?" Her strange question caught them off guard. Sasuke nodded his head and stepped forward. Sakura wasn't even going to try to do a fire jutsu while these two were in the vicinity.

"Great! Could you reduce the bentos to ash, please? We can't let Kaka-sensei see them," Sakura asked Sasuke. He nodded once, made hand signs, then inhaled air.

"**Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**!"

Sasuke blew out three fireballs from his mouth. When a fireball touched a bento, it was burned to ash. Sakura let out a low whistle and Naruto had his mouth wide open in shock.

"H-how'd you do that?!" Naruto gasped out in surprise.

"I am an Uchiha. This is just child's play," Sasuke bragged with a smirk. Sakura reached over and smacked the back of his head. Sasuke started to rub his injured head while glaring at Sakura.

"What was that for?" Sasuke demanded.

"What was what for? I didn't do anything. I think it was just a muscle spasm. I get those _a lot_," Sakura chirped out. Sakura stopped smiling and looked at them seriously. They were a bit unnerved by their bipolar teammate.

"Back to important matters. I have a suspicion that this test will ensure if we can work together as a team. To back my hypothesis up, have you noticed how most missions require a team? Also, if you look at all the other Genin teams, there is a Jounin and three Genin. We will have to work together as a team to pass whatever test he is going to place upon us," Sakura raised her hand to silence the other two, "We are laughably weak compared to him. He is a Jounin and we are not even considered Genin until we pass his test."

"But why do I have to work with that?!" Naruto asked while pointing an accusatory finger towards the person in question. Said person just glared.

"Who says I want to work with you, Dead Last?"

Sakura went and smacked both of them on the back of their heads. Naruto pouted, while Sasuke just glared towards his attacker. Sakura increasingly got more pissed.

"_If only looks could kill, they would be but orange and blue dust below my shoe."_

"_**You could always mutilate Sasu-cakes' leg, they would be inclined to listen to you."**_

"_Hell no! Do you know how much trouble I would be in?! Fixing up his leg the last time was such a drag, it'll be even more troublesome if I did it now with my chakra reserves as low as they are."_

"_**Not if you plead mentally instable.~ And nice to know I'm the inner of Shikamaru."**_

"_I am mentally instable if I'm having a conversation with _you _of all people! I could get sent to prison again! Do you know what prison does to sweet, innocent girls like me? Terrible things!"_

"_**Nothing happened to you, drama queen! You were only there for a few days. You weren't even with the others, you were in solitary confinement. If it hadn't been for Tsunade-shishou, you would have been a Genin all over again!" **_Inner practically yelled at Sakura.

"_I know! It was all Sasuke's fault, though! He didn't obey me when I told him to do something! He's as bad as you sometimes!"_

"_**That's going too far! You can't compare me with Sasu-chan!"**_

"_That's true, Sasuke is much more bearable than you! Now go into your cage while I talk with _normal _people for a change."_

"_**Fine! Bye! Who needs you?!"**_

Inner sulked into her cage as Sakura locked her in there. She pulled at the door to check that it was locked then promptly faded away. Inner reached down her shirt and held up a key that looked eerily familiar to the one Sakura had just used. Inner cackled and opened the door that kept her caged. As she turned to the right, a hallway with multiple doors appeared. The monochromatic girl opened a specific door and laughed in glee as the memory washed over her.

_Flashback_

"_Sasuke! Listen to me! I am your superior!"_

_A very ticked off Sakura was glaring at a man in front of her. Said man had a stoic expression on his face._

"_No."_

"_What did you say?!" _

"_I said no. You are as deaf as you are weak. At least the dead last actually improved, unlike you. You are at the same level as you were when I left. You are a disgrace to the Kunoichi in the world. Not only are you weak, but you cry _a lot_. It amazes me that you were able to take down Sasori. Wait a second, you didn't. You had to get help from his _grandmother_ to take him down. No wonder you are the weakest one in the group of our graduating class, even Ino has surpassed you. You have, and always will be, the crybaby of this team. And another thin-" Sasuke wasn't able to complete his thought. He had just gotten a chakra-infused punch to the face. The momentum of the punch made him fly through several trees before coming to an abrupt halt as he slammed against a tree, effectively breaking it in half. As he stood up groggily, the top half of the tree fell to the floor._

_Sasuke glared towards the woman who just punched him. Sakura was infuriated and her eye was twitching. As he looked into her eyes, the most evident emotion was anger. He looked closer and saw a brief flash of dejection. Something curled uncomfortable in his chest._

"Guilt? No, impossible. Uchiha's don't feel guilt…_" Sasuke looked down in contemplation. In the meantime, Sakura ran towards him. Sasuke looked up as he heard an object whizzing through the air. He barely had enough time to dodge a barrage of kunai that embedded themselves in the ground where he once stood. Hearing a faint hissing, Sasuke looked closely at the kunai._

"Explosive tags!"

_Sasuke made the simple sign for the substitution jutsu. As a log took his place in the explosions, he looked around and noticed he was in a clearing. Sakura was glaring at him. He focused in on her eyes and noticed something peculiar about them._

"Her eyes are gray!_"_

_Sasuke tried to look away, having a faint suspicion that looking into those eyes was a bad idea. _

"_You're too late, Asshole! You have been caught in my __**Bloody Nightmare Jutsu**__!"_

"Bloody nightmare?"

_Sasuke had barely enough time to jump back as a giant hand smashed where he had once been. He looked up and noticed a giant version of Sakura. She shrunk down and stood in an offensive position in front of the real Sakura._

"Is that a copy? No, it's too solid. What is that on her forehead? 'Inner'?"

"_I see you noticed the difference in this Sakura. I'll explain since you are my teammate, no matter how much of a douche bag you are at times.. This is Inner Sakura, she is basically another part coexisting inside of me. She lives within my mind. She doesn't like you and she wants revenge for what you said to me earlier."_

_Inner Sakura smiled mirthlessly and nodded at the real Sakura. They looked at each other, then smiled evilly. Both turned their head towards Sasuke, and glared. Sasuke was confused. _

"What is this? Is this some type of Genjutsu?"

_Sasuke put his hands in the release form, but nothing happened._

"_You confused? This jutsu is almost like your _**Tsukuyomi**_, Sasuke!"_

"_What?"_

"_It's a process in development, but I'll perfect it in no time."_

_Both Sakuras then sprinted towards Sasuke. Knowing how dangerous it could be, Sasuke turned on his Sharingan. In that moment, both Sakuras started to attack. It was a blur of movement as they fought. Gradually, the original Sakura tired out. She jumped back from the fight. Inner Sakura jumped back and stood in a defensive position in front of Sakura. Sasuke was breathing heavily, and was grateful for this small time to recover his breath._

"_Your jutsu tires you out quickly doesn't it, Sakura?"_

_Sakura glared at Sasuke and was about to jump back in to fight until Inner Sakura put a hand on her shoulder, commanding her to stop._

"_**You can't go on. This jutsu takes a lot out of you and I know your chakra levels are getting lower as time progresses."**_

"_Damn it, I know!"_

_Sakura calmed herself down and looked towards where Sasuke should have been. _

"_He's gone! Where did he go?!"_

_Sakura felt rather than saw where Sasuke was about to attack. The wind shifted as he appeared behind her. She tried to move out of the way, but she still wasn't fully recovered. Time seemed to stop as Sakura turned towards Sasuke and saw his fist about to strike her. As she waited for the impending hit, she stared right at him. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her close her eyes. _

_Sakura's eyes widened as she saw Inner Sakura move in front of her and take the blow. Sasuke's fist made contact with Inner's right cheek and her head was thrown to the side. She stayed rooted to the spot. Slowly, she turned her head towards Sasuke and smiled. This surprised both Sakura and Sasuke._

"_**Sasu-chan, that punch had quite a bite to it! I can't wait until I get to see you again! I just want to tell you that Outer and I could have defeated you long ago since this is our world, but we didn't. Sakura just wanted to make you regret calling her weak and not listening to her when she gives you an order. Lucky for you, Sakura can't hold this jutsu up for too long, it strains her body. I have a request for you, please help her perfect this jutsu. She won't ask you herself because she is too damn stubborn! Also, stop being such an asshole or I will seriously hurt you the next time you're trapped in here!**__" _

_Inner Sakura slowly started to fade away. Once she was completely gone, Sasuke noticed that everything seemed to acquire its color back._

_Sakura fell onto her knees and struggled to get back up. Sasuke slowly headed towards her. When he was a few feet from her, he threw kunai at both her shoulders. Sakura bit the inside of her cheek as the kunai imbedded themselves into her shoulders. She would _not_ scream out. _

"_You won't be bale to move your arms now. Just give up, then we can go to the hospital and get your wounds treated."_

_Sasuke walked the last few feet towards Sakura, then looked down at her. Sakura looked down at her immobile arms and tried to call upon her chakra. She stopped trying when he spoke again._

"_No matter what you do, you can't beat me. You are the weakest link in Team 7. Just give up and save yourself from further embarrassment."_

_What Sasuke said had hit a chord in Sakura. She slowly looked up at Sasuke and gave him an alarmingly bright smile. Sasuke was taken aback. _

"_Bitch please!" Sakura lunged towards one of Sasuke's legs and bit down hard. She added some chakra to her teeth and started to maul his leg. It wouldn't be helpful if she damaged her teeth, especially since she had a dentist appointment approaching. _

_Sasuke was screaming in pain as Sakura was mauling his leg. Sakura concentrated on her chakra flow until she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She unlatched herself from the imposing leg and turned towards the hand. Her eyes made contact with two familiar eyes. _

"_Pig-chan! I'm so glad to see you! Can you heal my arms, this asshole incapacitated me. Now I can't fix them myself."_

_Ino's eye was twitching as she started to heal Sakura._

"_Idiot! Do you know how much trouble you are going to be in!?"_

_Sakura smiled nervously then turned towards Sasuke. Right beside him, someone she didn't think would actually tend to him was caring for his wound._

"_Hinata? What are you doing?" Sakura questioned the shy Hyuuga._

"_I'm n-not really a medic, so I c-can't properly heal him. But I did have some pain-numbing ointment in my pouch. I put some on his wounds so that it won't hurt as much."_

_Sakura inspected Hinata's face and noticed a concerned look on her face. As she looked down toward the wound she had inflicted on Sasuke, she flinched. His left leg looked like it had gone through hell and back. Luckily for Sasuke, Hinata had given him a knock-out drug. He wasn't awake to see the damage. _

"_There! Your arms are now in proper condition, Forehead!"_

"_Thank you, Pig!" Sakura started to move her arms in circles, then got up and headed towards Sasuke. Once she was where his wound was, she kneeled down. She inspected the wound, and saw that it would take a while to completely fix his leg._

"_Pig, Hinata, could you two help me with this? I guess I should at least fix his leg as an apology," Sakura nervously laughed._

"_Sure," Ino offhandedly responded._

"_Would I even be of a-any help?" Hinata was nervously looking at the wound._

"_Any help is better than no help! And I'm going to need all the help I can get! Ino you start on the wound, Hinata could you run your chakra through me? I hardly have any left."_

"_H-hai!"_

_And so, the long process of fixing up a mutilated leg was under way. When they had finished, they noticed that a very ticked-off Tsunade was standing nearby. Sakura told her about what happened, and Tsunade had to present the case to the council. The council wanted to demote Sakura to Genin, but Tsunade voiced a different approach. That was how Sakura had been sent to solitary confinement for 5 days and 5 nights. Once her punishment was over, Sakura ran into the Hyuuga who had helped her fix up Sasuke's leg. Hinata had pleaded with Sakura to be her sensei. Hinata had come to the revelation that she should learn medic ninjutsu so that she could be of extra help to her team and those around her. Sakura agreed to be her teacher, and they started the long process of learning medic ninjutsu. _

_When Sakura had ran into Sasuke, he said something that shocked her to the core._

"_I will follow your orders next time and eat the food the fan girls made me without defiance."_

_He then, proudly, started to walk away. Just as he was about to jump onto a roof for easier travel, he voiced out a proposition._

"_If you would like, I can help perfect your __**Bloody Nightmare Jutsu**__. Be warned, I will not go easy on you."_

_Sakura stood speechless, then quickly yelled out, "Thank you, Sasuke!"_

_Sasuke only said a simple 'Hn' then went on his way. _

_Hinata studying to become a medic, Sakura perfecting her Jutsu, and Sasuke opening up had all started because of one thing. Sasuke's mutilated leg had gotten the ball rolling._

_Flashback End_

"Sakura-chan! You in there?!" Naruto shook his teammate. She seemed to remember where she was and came back to the real world.

"_Stupid Inner!"_

Her first act of business was to glare at the blond and hit him over the head.

"Idiot! Let go of me and stop man-handling me!" Sakura shouted at Naruto. Said blond let go off her and nursed his injured skull.

"Now that _that's _settled. I have a few plans that I want to go over with you guys. We can chose a few and implement them on Kaka-sensei," Sakura said to the two boys in front of her.

"But Kakashi-sensei said that there was a 66% chance of us failing!" Naruto reminded Sakura worriedly.

"That means there is still a 34% chance of passing," Sakura said, trying to console the panicked blond. Sakura started to explain her plan. When she was done, she gave each of her teammates a reassuring smile. They all stopped and listened when they heard a distinct, soft '_pat_' on the ground. When they turned around, they saw their sensei in crutches.

"You won't believe what happened."

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura yelled at their tardy sensei.

"You aren't hurt sensei, those crutches are obviously fake," Sasuke said while glaring at him. He was in no mood to deal with his late sensei and his excuses.

"Well, there was this black cat that sat across from me on the road and I refused to cross his path," Kakashi explained while rubbing the back of his head. His crutches had magically disappeared.

"Even if that was true, there are other paths in Konoha!" Sakura accused.

"A little girl fell off her bike and scraped her knee, I brought her to the hospital for a band-aid. Did you know they give out suckers with the band-aids?" Kakashi asked.

"Hn, you are a ninja. Being quick is a trait that ninjas have. Hence, you still have no explanation for being _four hours _late," Sasuke told him, scowling at his sensei's lies.

"The smut, I mean literature seller, was offering free bookmarks and highlighters to the first 100 people in line."

"Kakashi-sensei! If you were one of the first hundred in line, it wouldn't have taken so long!" Naruto screamed at his sensei. Some of the excuses he made were ridiculous!

"I heard there might be a flood, so I put my finger in the hole in the wall. I came as soon as I found a replacement."

"That's ridiculous Kaka-sensei," Sakura told him.

"The grocery was having a super sale on ramen, I got you some too, Naruto."

"You speak lies! I know when every store even thinks of having a super sale on ramen! I can feel it in the air!" Naruto manically said. Kakashi didn't say anything, he had a feeling that what Naruto said was true. That, in itself, was a scary thought.

"I ran into a lion with a thorn in his paw and had to perform a delicate surgery," Kakashi told them.

"_Stupid kids and their ability to tear my excuses apart,_" Kakashi thought grouchily.

"There are no lions in Konoha," Sasuke sneered at him.

"My alarm didn't go off."

"That would be no excuse to be _four hours _late," Sakura stated.

"Lets just get on with the test," Kakashi grumbled. He started to walk towards the center of the clearing, expecting them to follow.

"This is were the test will take place. You will have to get these bells," Kakashi said while holding two bells out, "before noon. If you fail, you will be tied to a post and watch me eat lunch in front of you."

When he was done explaining this, he walked to the posts and put a timer on the one in the middle. He put the bentos in front of this post. Seemingly satisfied with his work, he went back to the three Genin.

"You have two hours, this test starts…" he looked at all of them carefully.

"Now!" he screamed. When he looked up again, two of the three Genin were hiding. The other one was glaring at him with his bright blue eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei! I'm going to pummel you into the ground!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, do you really think you can defeat a Jounin head on?" Kakashi asked his student while shaking his head.

Naruto reached into his pouch and took out a kunai.

Kakashi reached into his pouch, and started to look for something too.

Naruto tensed, waiting to see what plan he had.

Kakashi finished searching his pouch, and slowly took his hand out. In his hand was…

_Icha Icha Paradise_

Naruto looked at him in confusion.

"Kakashi-sensei! I can totally beat you if you're reading!" Naruto accused while pointing at his sensei.

"Hm? Well prove it," Kakashi baited Naruto.

Naruto, threw his kunai at Kakashi. He lazily caught it between his two fingers. Kakashi's eye stared at Naruto lazily as the orange-clad ninja spoke.

"**Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!**"

Around a hundred Narutos appeared in front of Kakashi in clouds of smoke. They all dashed towards Kakashi while said Jounin let a small sigh leave his mask-clad mouth. The first five to reach him and invaded his comfort zone were quickly dispersed with a few moves of simple Taijutsu. The rest of the clones were quickly dispersed as well, leaving only five left. The one on the left quickly formed hand signs then '_poof_'ed out of view, the jutsu leaving the clone's mouth silently as he disappeared. The jutsu was said too silent for Kakashi too have heard and the cloud of smoke left behind obstructed his view of the clone's mouth to properly read his lips. He paid it no heed and instead decided to ignore it. The clone on the right started to quickly form multiple hand signs, at a speed that meant he had done this jutsu countless time. Kakashi wasn't able to find out what the jutsu would be since the remaining three Narutos attacked him head on.

"_Naruto seems to have actually planned ahead instead of just charging into battle. Peculiar…" _As Kakashi was contemplating these thoughts, he swiftly dispersed two of the clones and punched the real Naruto away from him. Just as he was going to look at the other Naruto clone, a giant fireball blocked his view of said clone. Kakashi rapidly started to form hand signs.

"**Earth Release: Hiding Like A Mole Technique**," Kakashi said just as the ground below him turned into sand so that he could slip through and hide underground. As his body slid underground, the sand immediately hardened, leaving no trace of what he did.

"_Was Sasuke the one who sent out that fireball? Is he working together with Naruto? No, a Naruto clone had sent out that fireball. That leaves the question, when did Naruto learn fire jutsu? Unless…" _Kakashi appeared back on the solid earth above him.

"**Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**!"

Kakashi allowed his years of fighting experience to nonchalantly teleport away from the attack. He appeared at the other side of the clearing, mildly surprised by the hundreds of Narutos seemingly waiting for him.

The clones didn't waste any time and charged head on towards him. A few of them surrounded him in a circle as he was busy dispersing the clones that seemed to keep coming. Once he dispersed the last clone charging towards him, a Naruto clone jumped up into the air. Just as that clone threw down shuriken, the clones surrounding him did as well. Simultaneously, they all called out the jutsu.

"**Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu**!"

Kakashi lone eye widened. He didn't expect them to know that technique. He swiftly formed his own hand signs and called out his jutsu.

"**Substitution Jutsu**."

As the shuriken hit his body, he was replaced with a log.

"Did we just get _logged_ by Kaka-sensei?" One of the Narutos asked, bewildered. The clones surrounding this one clone dispersed, leaving two others behind. The one on the left dispersed, leaving an aggravated Sasuke behind. The Naruto clone that had spoken went '_poof', _leaving behind an upset Sakura.

"Damn it, Plan 'Kick His Ass' failed," Sakura spoke. She tangled her fingers into her hair and groaned. Naruto gave her a reassuring smile and spoke next.

"We still have another plan, Sakura-chan! 'If This Plan Doesn't Work, We're Screwed' is still a go, right?"

"We obviously won't go through with the plan, Dead Last. We just go up to sensei and ask him for the bells," Sasuke told the blond sarcastically.

"Sasuke, don't be so unpleasant. Anyways, lets get the plan moving and on the go," Sakura told them while she clasped her hands together happily.

"What went wrong?" A disgruntled Sasuke asked. He wasn't about to explain what he meant and Sakura, after years dealing with such statements, knew what he meant.

"Hm… Naruto did follow the plan and engage Kaka-sensei in a close-quarters fight. We came in while he was distracted and proceeded to henge into Naruto. Two Naruto clones were with us in case something went wrong. As Kaka-sensei had finished the remaining clones, we kept our distance from him. I used the **Substitution Jutsu **to get myself out of the way for you two to engage him," Sakura explained to them.

"What did you change places with anyways, Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned.

"A rock that I had one of the hidden Naruto clones hold," Sakura stated, "I know you guys fought him, but what did you do exactly while I was with the clones?"

"I used Ninjutsu, while the dead last just stood there," Sasuke told her while smirking.

"Hey! I'm the one that made all of the clones!" Naruto retorted.

"Don't you even start fighting with each other!" Sakura glared at the both of them, "The other part of the plan was successful. You were able to force him towards the other side of the clearing where the Naruto clones and I were waiting. We ambushed him, but he was able to get away. Now we are forced to use Plan B: 'If This Plan Doesn't Work, We're Screwed.' Lets get the wheels rolling! Cha!"

**~ElOhEl~**

Up in the trees above them, Kakashi was crouched upon a branch. He was amazed that the apparent 'dead last' of his class could do all of that. He was surprised that two of the Naruto clones were actually Sakura and Sasuke. He became shocked when he heard how their plan had went underway.

"_They're working together, just like a team should. They might not be a waste of my time, right, Minato-sensei?"_

Kakashi touched the bells secured at his hip and smiled.

As Kakashi was lost in his memories, he didn't notice the three Genin turn towards his hiding spot. He deftly got out his kunai and prepared to knock out the three kunai heading his way. He didn't expect the kunai to '_poof_' into three Naruto clones. Kakashi grunted and dispelled them easily, then jumped down from the tree. He glanced at the ground ahead of him, where the Genin were, and noticed that there were scarecrows that resembled the Genin.

Kakashi walked towards the scarecrows, spotting a note on the blond one. He casually grabbed the note and then jumped back towards the trees, just as an explosion went off.

The sizzling of the exploding tags gave away their plan. Kakashi's lone eye read the words on the paper, inwardly chuckling at the message.

Revenge on Kakashi-sensei, believe it!

"_What an interesting bunch…"_

Kakashi was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a jutsu being called out.

"**Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu**!"

A huge fireball blocked Kakashi's view, getting closer towards his position. Once Kakashi felt the heat emanating from the fireball, he jumped out of his hiding space and out into the open. As he landed, Naruto clones surrounded him and started to attack.

For every Naruto clone he managed to dispel, another five would take its place. Sakura joined in with the Naruto clones trying, and failing, to land a hit on the Jounin.

Kakashi turned his back towards Sakura to face the Naruto clones behind him. He regretted this mistake as soon as he made it. Sakura had somehow managed to get under him while he face off against the clones.

Sakura jumped towards him and punched him right under his chin, simultaneously pricking his neck with a senbon needle. The force behind the punch caused him to be lifted up into the air, the senbon momentarily forgotten.

"_That's going to leave a bruise," _Kakashi thought, sighing as he noticed Naruto and Sasuke in the air above him.

Naruto drop kicked Kakashi on the stomach, causing him to descend to the ground at a much faster rate. Sasuke had started forming hand signs when Naruto had kicked Kakashi. He had finished just as Kakashi had started to descend.

"**Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**!"

Kakashi tried to move, but noticed he couldn't. He thought back to what Sakura did and realized that she most likely caused him to be paralyzed with whatever was on that senbon needle.

Kakashi was hit full force with the jutsu, causing his drop to the ground to become even faster. He realized that the jutsu was strong, but not as strong as it could be. He would have to work with Sasuke on that.

Kakashi slammed onto the unforgiving terrain and felt the wind knocked out of him. As unconsciousness was starting to cloud his vision, one thought managed to escape his delirious mind/

"_What an interesting bunch."_

**~ElOhEl~**

As Kakashi opened his solitary eye, he noticed that he was propped up against a tree. Instinctively, Kakashi checked his side for the bells. While searching, and finding nothing there, he heard the distinct sounds of bells jingling. Stifling a groan, realization hit him.

"Looking for these Kaka-sensei?" a cheery Sakura asked. In her hand, she held the two bells.

Lifting his head, he was confronted by three, very proud, almost-Genin. The pink haired girl was in the middle of the boys, the blond standing right next to her, and the dark haired one positioned a distance away from them-but still close enough to prove he was a part of the makeshift team.

"_These kids_," Kakashi shook his head, a small smile forming on his face. He wiped it off and replaced it with his no-bullshit-face.

"As you may or may _not_ have noticed," pointed stare at Naruto, "there are only two bells. Two of you will join me and we'll become a team, but the one without a bell will be sent back to the academy. Now, who will that be?"

"Hn, no one," Sasuke stepped closer to his teammates as if to prove a point.

"Yeah, what that bastard said! We are a team, and a team can't leave each other behind," Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, a smile splitting his features.

"We all have ambitions we have to achieve, this test is just one of many that will be in our way to success. We might not be close, but none of us want to destroy the others' dream. We won't abandon one another," Sakura added, placing a hand on her hip.

Proving their point Sakura tossed a bell towards Sasuke, the latter skillfully catching it, and then held hands with Naruto-the bell secured between their conjoined hands.

"Those in the ninja world who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are lower than scum. You three have shown me that you have the potential to put that into effect. I believe you won't let me down in that," Kakashi smiled at them and gave then a thumbs-up, "You three passed!"

"Yes, believe it!"

"Cha!"

"Hn."

"Meet me at the Hokage tower tomorrow at 10. We'll start missions then. Later," Kakashi gave a small wave and then '_poof'_ed out.

The three stayed silent for a moment, reveling in their success.

"Who wants to go to Ichiraku's to get some ramen? My treat," Sakura smiled brightly at them, hiding her pain behind the smile. She could still remember Kakashi's death as if it had just happened yesterday. He had been fatally injured during his battle with the enemy, barely making it back to base to give a report on the status of the war. While healing him, Kakashi had told Team 7 about his haunting past, revealing information about his old team with Minato Namikaze, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara.

"Of course, Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied, snapping said girl out of her trance.

"Hn, Naruto should pay since he did nothing." Sasuke smirked.

"I made the damn clones!"

"Excuses, excuses," Sasuke tsk'ed at Naruto.

"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto screamed, waving a fist threateningly at the Uchiha. Naruto started to chase after Sasuke, leaving the remaining member of Team 7 behind.

Sakura, left alone in the clearing, allowed a small smile to grace her features as she stared at her teammates' backs. The smile left as soon as it appeared, a frown replacing it. Her hands curled into fists at her sides.

"DID YOU TWO JUST DITCH ME! I WILL NOT BE LEFT BEHIND!"

Sakura chased after them, gaining speed as she added chakra to her legs. Naruto and Sasuke gave up on their fight and instead focused on running away from their teammate, who resembled a predator chasing its prey at the very moment.

"Interesting… Iruka didn't mention they would act like this." The figure disappeared from his position, the swirling leaves he left being the only sign of his departure.

**~ElOhEl~**

As the newly formed Team 7 entered Ichiraku, Ayame gave out her usual greeting.

"Welcome to Ichi-" Ayame abruptly stopped, staring at the three Genin in front of her.

Naruto was nursing a bruise that was forming on his head and Sakura and Sasuke were glaring at each other, daring one another to initiate the first move of attack.

Teuchi appeared behind the counter just as the three decided to sit down.

"Ayame, what's taking so-" Teuchi smiled brightly at Naruto, "Naruto! Here for some ramen?"

"Yes! A miso ramen please, old man!"

Sakura slapped Naruto on his healing bruise, causing the blond to cry out in pain.

"I'll just have one vegetable ramen please, Teuchi-san. Thank you again for the ramen bento in the morning," Sakura stated, smiling brightly at said man.

"Miso, please," ever the eloquent Sasuke added.

"Well if it isn't Naruto."

Team 7 turned around and noticed Team 8 enter the ramen establishment.

"Well if it isn't Dog Breath!" Naruto retorted, glaring at Kiba.

"Start a fight, I will hurt you. Got it, Naruto-idiot?" Sakura warned, punching her open palm threateningly.

"O-Of course, Sakura-chan!"

"You scared of her?" Kiba laughed loudly, staring at Naruto then Sakura then back again.

"Um, Kiba-kun, you shouldn't be so r-rude," Hinata said while, all ninja-like and what not, stealing a few peeks at Sasuke.

Kiba abruptly stopped laughing and a pout replaced his smile. He sat next to Naruto and ordered, during which he rubbed his hand. He could still remember the pain Hinata had inflicted upon him for being _rude_.

"Lets settle this like men, Dog Breath!"

Kiba stared at Naruto confused, wondering what trick the guy had up his sleeve. He unconsciously started to pet Akamaru, who was sleeping on his head.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Ramen eating contest!"

"You're on!"

"I won't lose, believe it!"

Naruto and Kiba started to eat bowl after bowl of ramen, the broth flying every which way as they rapidly ate their food. The other members of Team 7 and 8 just stared on, disgusted beyond belief.

**~ElOhEl~**

"Oh Lord, are their stomachs black holes?" Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose and turned to the other three, "I'm Sakura Haruno, this is Sasuke Uchiha, and _that_ over there is Naruto Uzumaki. Please excuse my teammate's disgusting behavior. What are your names?"

"I am Hinata Hyuuga, this is Shino Aburame, and over there is Kiba Inuzuka," Hinata gave an apologetic smile, " I'm sorry about Kiba-kun's a-actions."

"It's alright. Did you just come from completing your final Genin test?"

"Yes," Hinata smiled and took a seat.

"What was your test?" Sasuke asked, giving a sideways glance towards Hinata.

"Kurenai-sensei told us to track and immobilize her. She hid her chakra and went into hiding, leaving us to work as a team to locate her. Kiba-kun and Akamaru used their noses to try and find her, but the one he located was a clone with her headband. I used my Byakugan to search for the real one and Kiba-kun engaged her in battle. While she was distracted, Shino-kun ensnared her with his bugs creating the opening I needed to block a few of her chakra paths. That rendered her immobile, so we passed."

"Congratulations, Hinata!" Sakura beamed and then signaled Teuchi over, "Their first bowls are on me."

"Thank you, S-Sakura-chan, but you didn't need to," Hinata started to reach into her pouch to pull out a few bills.

"Nonsense! Put that away, Hinata, or you'll hurt my feelings," Sakura placed her hand over her chest.

"Thank you again, Sakura-chan."

The girls shared a smile, understanding that they had just initiated their bond in front of their other teammates.

**~ElOhEl~**

"Um, Uchiha-san?" Hinata nervously played with her fingers as she waited for a response from the stoic male.

"Sasuke."

"Eh?" Hinata cocked her head to the side as she stared at the Uchiha questioningly.

"Call me Sasuke."

"S-Sasuke-kun, how did your Genin test go?"

"We passed."

Hinata gave a sidelong glance towards the table, wondering if slamming her face onto it would be considered impolite.

"Did you like the bent- I mean… um, was the test hard for you?" Hinata mentally face-palmed, internally cursing herself for her slip up. Sasuke wasn't supposed to know she was the one who had sent him the bento.

"It wasn't."

"_Maybe he'll ignore my slip up?"_

"You were the friend Sakura was talking about?"

"…"

The Uchiha stared at the Hyuuga since she hadn't responded. He continued to eat his ramen, an eyebrow raising as he stared at the silent girl.

"Well?"

Letting out a breath, Hinata decided ignoring the problem wouldn't make it go away.

"Yes…"

"I thought you two just met today, seeing as how you introduced yourselves. So why did Sakura give me the bento if she had no prior relationship with you?" Sasuke put down his chopsticks and focused on the girl seated next to him.

"Well, you see…um…"

"…?"

Hinata was freaking out. How could she answer that?

"We bumped into each other earlier today, before I met up with you guys. She asked me if I could give you that bento, so I did," Sakura casually stated from her position on the wall next to Shino. After she said that, she resumed her conversation with the bug user.

"Yeah, what Sakura-chan said." Hinata let out the breath she didn't notice she was holding.

"You couldn't say that, why?"

"It's embarrassing. I didn't want you to think I was a fan girl."

"How was that not fan girl like," Sasuke ground out. He had thought Hinata was different and _not _a fan girl.

"I-I guess it was fan girl like," Sasuke snorted, "but I'm not a fan girl!"

Sasuke looked surprised at the outburst that came from such a petite girl.

"I-I like you as a person! I made that bento because you might've been hungry. You weren't suppose to find out I made it for you… I was to befriend you before you could judge and misinterpret my intentions."

"Hn," Sasuke let out a small smile, "What can the Byakugan do?"

Noticing the smile, Hinata inwardly cheered.

"The Byakugan…"

**Before SasuHina Conversation**

Sakura let out a sigh. Watching Naruto and Kiba pig out was too disgusting to bear, and how could she interrupt Hinata's Sasuke-time?

Lazily looking around, she noticed Shino leaning against the wall. Solidifying her resolve, she headed towards the bug user.

"What are you doing here all by your lonesome self, Shino-san?" Sakura stood next to him and leaned on the wall as well.

"My teammates are busy, so I am not needed. Why you ask? Because my presence would not better or worsen their situations."

"That's true, I guess," Sakura slightly laughed, "but it's not about your presence bettering or worsening their situation, it's about you just _being _there beside them."

"That is a different way of viewing it because we are two unique people, so we have different views on certain aspects. Your view is positive, though mine is mutual."

"Shino-san, you're a bug user right?"

Shino's only sign of acknowledgement was a slight tilt of his head.

"Could I see one of your bugs?" Sakura was inwardly shivering, but if the only way to break through Shino's barrier was through his bugs, then so be it.

Shino lifted his hand, a small object was crawling across his finger.

"You can control them?" Sakura was answered by a slight nod from Shino's direction.

"That's actually really cool!" Sakura stared at the small insect.

"_**Gross…" **_Inner Sakura shivered.

"_Shut up! Respect Shino and his bugs, no matter how gross!"_

"Sakura-san, Hinata seems distressed. Why? Because it seems Uchiha has asked her something she is uncomfortable speaking about."

Sakura turned towards the pair.

"Why did Sakura give me the bento if she had no prior relationship with you?"

Sakura inwardly groaned. She cleared her throat and answered for Hinata.

"We bumped into each other earlier today, before I met up with you guys. She asked me if I could give you that bento, so I did." Satisfied with her interruption, Sakura turned back towards Shino.

"How did your Genin test go? I will be listening," Shino asked.

Shocked for a moment, Sakura didn't respond. Shaking herself from the confusion, she responded. Sakura smiled towards Shino as she recounted the Genin test.

"Kaka-sensei told us to meet him at an ungodly hour and then not show up for hours!…"

**~ElOhEl~**

As the two teams finished eating, they prepared to leave. In the case of Naruto and Kiba, Kiba had lost the ramen eating competition. This resulted in Naruto ordering another ramen for himself as a victory prize, causing everyone to have to wait for him.

Once Naruto finished, both teams left the ramen establishment and stood outside.

"No one can beat the great Naruto Uzumaki!"

"That was a fluke! Next time I'll beat you! Right, Akamaru!?" Akamaru yipped in response.

"You wish! Kibas don't beat Narutos, believe it!"

_And_ the verbal onslaughts started.

"I had a lovely time, Sasuke-kun. I hope we e-encounter one another again."

Hinata was twiddling with her fingers while her face erupted into a blush.

"Hn," Sasuke replied, a faint smile on his face.

"It was nice talking to you, Shino. I hope we can talk again!" Sakura declared.

"It would be reasonable to have another. Why? Because we both enjoyed talking with each other, Sakura."

As Teams 7 and 8 exchanged pleasantries, they split up with their rightful teammates and headed on home.

**~ElOhEL~**

While walking with her team, Sakura thought it was time to start teasing her dear Sasuke.

"So Sasuke, what'd you think of Hinata-chan?"

Naruto looked confused (_**"He always looks confused. Haha!"**_) that Sasuke would willingly talk to a female that wasn't on his team.

"She's not a fan girl and she… It's enjoyable to talk with Hinata." Sasuke stated, not looking at his teammates.

Naruto looked stopped dead in his tracks, causing his teammates to stop as well. He rose a shaking finger towards his darker haired teammate.

"The bastard likes Hinata!"

"I do not," Sasuke seethed out.

"Denial is the first stage!" Sakura teased.

Sasuke ignored the teasing, and continued on his way. Naruto and Sakura kept teasing Sasuke as they all walked home.

Halfway to the point where they would split up, they saw Iruka standing near a wall with his finger in a hole looking at his watch periodically and tapping his foot.

"Kakashi-sensei was telling the truth," Naruto said in awe.

"Maybe we should tell him that Kaka-sensei lied to him?" Sakura suggested.

"Let him suffer. We have to suffer with Sensei for the rest of our poor, miserable lives," Sasuke stated, continuing to walk.

The other two looked at him quizzically, then shrugged it off, jogging to catch up with him.

"Eh, you're right, someone else will find him."

With that, they continued on their merry way.

* * *

**Review!**

**I have just accepted the undeniable truth that a beta will not come running towards me and my story. -cries-**

**But if my reviewers would like to help me by telling me about any errors in my story, that would be grand!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and continue to bear with me and my unscheduled updates. I know I will update every two weeks or so.**

**I have not completed the Sakura drawing, but it will be finished shortly! Go check out my Naruto drawing if you haven't, the link is on my profile.**

**Review, please! **

**I might even update the next chapter much quicker than I did with this one!~ (Bribery at its finest. Kukuku)**

**~gaasakufoevah**

**P.S. Thank you **NapalmInTheRain**,** YamiHinata**,** suicune4ever**,** **and **LeonaMasha**! Your reviews make me happy~**


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